On May 15, 2024, Beijing time, the NBA Western Conference semifinals ushered in the battle between the Nuggets and the Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves suffered an injury in this game, Conley could not play due to injury, Finch replaced Conley with Walker, and the starters were Edwards, Walker, McDaniels, Towns and Gobert, and the Nuggets started unchanged, still Murray, Pope, Porter, Gordon and Jokic.
Edwards knocked Murray to death, and Downs was injured
In the first quarter of the game, Timberwolves Towns stood up first in this game, scoring 5 points in a row, and the defense limited Jokic and Murray to start well, making it difficult for the Nuggets to score, and the Timberwolves led the Nuggets by a narrow margin at the beginning. The Nuggets relied on Pope to score 4 points in a row at the beginning of the game, and then Jokic also participated in the offense, scoring 7 points in a row on a single basket, and Porter scored a converted three-point shot to help the Nuggets equalize the score. The Timberwolves McDaniels had a hot hand and hit two three-pointers in a row, Edwards missed the basket twice, and Jokic switched offense and scored a foul free throw, and the Nuggets started to get on the ground.
Edwards hit a three-pointer, and Pope immediately responded with a three-pointer, but then Edwards couldn't continue to play in the big gap, and Lee Kyle hit a mid-range shot to help the Timberwolves equalize. Reed hit a three-pointer and Jokic scored a two-and-one. Notably, Downs tripped on an attack, clutched his knee in pain, and limped while running for minutes despite staying on the court. Walker hit a three-pointer, Reggie scored four straight points on a pick-and-roll, and Towns scored a hook shot to give the Nuggets a 28-26 lead over the Timberwolves at the end of the first quarter.
Edwards had a cold hand, scoring just five points at 8-1 at halftime
In the second quarter of the game, Gobert scored under the basket and caused Braun to foul, but unfortunately he missed the free throw, Murray missed the shot, and Li Kaier gave Gobert an assist to complete the dunk, and Malone received a technical foul because he was dissatisfied with the referee's penalty! Edwards executed a technical foul and scored a free throw, and the Timberwolves started the game 5-0. The Nuggets scored one point on Braun's foul free throw, and Gordon completed a brilliant dunk to tie the game.
Then the Timberwolves fouled three consecutive offensive fouls, and the Nuggets also hit the iron, and they didn't score for 3 minutes. Although Morris was the first to break the deadlock with a mid-range shot, Jokic and Gordon scored four points in a row to help the Nuggets overtake the score again. Towns then scored four straight points to get the right touch, but was forced off for a third foul on Jokic. Braun became the Nuggets' scoring point, scoring six points on one hand, and Gordon completed a dunk to stop the Timberwolves. After the timeout, Jokic began to exert force, scoring five points in a row, and Murray broke through and scored on a throw, and the Nuggets led the Timberwolves 50-44 at halftime.
Jokic exerted his strength and destroyed the withering!
In the second half of the game, Towns scored a self-throwing rebound, Murray made a mistake Edwards converted the offense and caused Jokic to foul and score a free throw, Jokic missed a jumper, Towns scored three points in the bottom corner, and the Timberwolves played a wave of 7-0. Porter took the lead with a three-pointer to help the Nuggets score, McDaniels singled Porter to hit a mid-range shot, Towns assisted Gobert to complete a dunk, the Timberwolves led by two points, and Malone called a timeout. After the timeout, Gordon grabbed two offensive rebounds in a row to make up for the basket and scored, Murray and Gordon scored 4 points in a row, and the Nuggets played a wave of 6-0, during which time the Timberwolves offense was out of power and relied on Towns to break through to complete the layup, but Pope threw in three points, McDaniels and Walker did not have three points, Jokic made a long pass to assist Murray to complete the dunk, and the Nuggets stretched the score to 7 points.
After the Timberwolves took a timeout, Towns assisted Gobert to complete an empty dunk, Jokic scored six points in a row under the basket, Murray scored a foul free throw, and the Timberwolves scored four points with Edwards and McDaniels, and the Nuggets stretched the gap to nine points. Reed missed a breakthrough layup, Jokic passed the ball to Gordon behind his back, got up and dunked and was fouled by Reed, scored on a free throw, and the margin came to 13 points. Edwards then scored five points in a row, but unfortunately missed the three-point shot, missing the opportunity to chase further points. Jokic didn't relent, scoring 10 points in a row. At the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets led the Timberwolves by 14 points at 88-74, and Jokic scored 16 points in the first quarter of the game, and has scored against Gobert eight times in the third quarter.
In the final quarter of the game, Gordon made a strong basket to complete a layup, Reed threw and scored under the basket, Murray missed a layup, Walker missed a three-point shot, Gobert caused Pope to foul and score a free throw, Edwards defended Porter with three points and three points, and Edwards assisted Reed to complete the empty cut dunk! The margin returned to 10 points, and the Nuggets traded straight back to Jokic after a timeout. Pope hit a three-pointer, McDaniels missed a three-pointer from a wide open position, and Pope made a three-pointer. Towns missed, Edwards missed a steal, and Jokic completed a dunk to bring the margin to 18 points.
After the timeout, Edwards broke through to the basket, the Timberwolves changed the defense, Porter Jr. missed the empty three-point shot, Towns made a single basket to complete the layup, Braun was released and shot a three-pointer, and the Timberwolves' defense went wrong! Walker responded with a three-pointer, Jokic missed a hook shot, Reed converted an offensive layup and scored, the baseline served wrong, and Towns made a steal layup and caused a foul free throw to score 1 point, and the difference returned to 10 points. Gordon hit a shot from the whistle, Edwards hit a mid-range shot, the Nuggets began to control the time, Reed missed the throw, Jokic made a three-point shot at the buzzer, killing the game! In the end, the Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves 112-97 and won the battle of Tianwang Mountain, and the Nuggets led the Timberwolves 3-2 in the series.
Full-time player stats
Nuggets: Jokic shot 15-of-22 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range to finish with 40 points, 7 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals and 1 block, Gordon 18 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, Murray 16 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists, Pope 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Porter 6 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist, Braun 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Reggie 6 points.
Timberwolves: Towns had 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists on 10-of-19 shooting and 2-of-5 three-pointers, Edwards had 18 points, 4 rebounds and 9 assists on 5-of-15 shooting and 1-of-5 three-pointers, Gobert had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, Walker had 14 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists, McDaniels F9en3 rebounds and 3 assists, Reed had 7 points and 3 rebounds, and Morris had 6 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists.
Full game summary
After the absence of Conley of the Timberwolves, there was a problem with the team's overall offensive rotation, and the Nuggets' defensive focus was aimed at Edwards, which made Edwards feel cold in the first half.
On the other hand, the Nuggets saw Jokic's attitude from the beginning of the game, stood up in the first quarter to solve the team's offense, and in the third quarter, they abused the Timberwolves' defensive players one by one to help the Nuggets win the victory. Once again, the consistency of the defending champions has been tested.
#头条创作挑战赛#
#NBA季后赛#