On May 15, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and the Denver Nuggets returned to their home court to face the Minnesota Timberwolves! In the first 4 games of the series, both teams won at each other's home stadiums, and both teams are determined to win this battle against Tianwang Mountain! In the first quarter, the two teams were evenly matched, alternating the lead, and this situation lasted until halftime, when the Nuggets made a slight effort to take a six-point lead. Yibian fought again, and the double champion punched hard, and the Timberwolves once overtook the score and stopped the Nuggets. After the timeout, Jokic descended to dominate the game, and the Nuggets built a double-digit lead in one fell swoop. In the final quarter, the Timberwolves were weak in chasing points, and the Nuggets firmly controlled the situation! In the end, the Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves 112-97.
The Nuggets equalized the series after losing two home games in a row, and the championship background left the Timberwolves in the dust! In this game, the veteran Conley's absence due to injury made the Timberwolves more passive, unable to attack, and unable to defend! At the end of the game, the Nuggets dominated the fast-break scoring (16-4), turnover-based scoring (18-12), and interior scoring (62-48). The Nuggets were restrained by Jokic inside and echoed by a group of shooters outside, shooting 9 of 19 from beyond the three-point line, with a three-point shooting rate of 47.4%; For comparison, the Timberwolves shot 8-of-26 from three-point range and shot just 30.8 percent from the field. Timberwolves star Huazi shouldered the heavy responsibility of offensive organization and defense of Murray, exhausted, with only 18 points, 9 assists on 5-of-15 shooting, and 4 turnovers, even if Towns and Gobert combined to score 41 points + 17 rebounds, it was difficult to prevent the loss, just because Jokic played MVP-level dominance.
After the whole game, Jokic played 41 minutes, 15 of 22 shots (2 of 3 three-pointers), 8 of 9 free throws, 40 points + 7 rebounds + 13 assists + 2 steals + 1 block, the number of turnovers was 0, and the plus/minus value on the court was as high as +21, the best in the game! Before the start of this game, Jokic received his third MVP trophy, but he didn't say a word, which was a "big disappointment". But when we got back on the court, we realized that Jokic just didn't talk much! Throughout the first half of the game, Jokic scored 19 points + 8 assists, giving what he wanted, setting the tone for the game; In the third quarter of the game, the double champion pressed step by step, but forced out the strongest version of Jokic, who scored 16 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists alone, almost single-handedly broke the entire interior group of the Timberwolves, and also lost the suspense of the game in advance! Jokic, meanwhile, broke a number of NBA records, including one held by Paul.
According to statistics from the NBA's official website, 40 points is a new personal high for Jokic's playoff career this year, and at the same time, this is the fifth time in Jokic's playoff career that he has scored 40+, and he has become the second center in the 21st century to accomplish this feat, the first is Ao Fat. With that, Jokic moved to 591 assists in the playoffs, surpassing O'Neal (582) to move up to the fourth place in NBA history as a center, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (767), Russell (727) and Chamberlain (673). In another statistic, Jokic is the first player in the NBA in the past six years to score at least 40 points + 10 assists and 0 turnovers in the playoffs, the last being Paul in 2018. What's even more powerful is that Jokic scored + assists in this game to contribute 70 points and 0 turnovers to the team, the first person in NBA history, Jokic is also the first player in NBA playoff history to hit at least 15 goals + 10 assists + 0 turnovers in a single game! This is Jokic, with the same dominance as Fat and the same organizational level as Paul, he is worthy of being the first organizational center in NBA history, and this is why he won the MVP in 4 years and 3 times!
From falling behind 0-2 to holding the match point 3-2, Jokic's ability to lead the team once again conquered the world and won a full house! As a bystander, Warriors media person Joe said: Jokic is the best player in the world; NBA celebrity Mr. Su bluntly said: Jokic beat 4-time DPOY Gobert and played a new height in the battle for giants. As an opponent, Hua Zi was convinced, and he said bluntly: I can only laugh it off, because he is too strong; Finch also said: "Jokic gave a performance at the level of the best player in the world, and we can't do anything about it. As his own person, the Nuggets coach has long been accustomed to this, and Murray said lightly: Jokic is really a bit good! However, Mr. Yoo himself is as humble as ever, he said in an interview: We are still in a very dangerous situation, we have to play with a sense of desperation and fight for another win at the Timberwolves' home court! Jokic has already shown his sword, and the next thing is up to Huazi to respond. Fans, what do you think about this? Leave me a comment to discuss.