Jokic won the regular season MVP award three times in four years
Denver returns home to face Minnesota in the semifinals of the Battle of Kings Mountain. Before the game, NBA commissioner Xiao Hua presented Jokic with the regular season MVP trophy, which also made the Nuggets full of confidence. In this game, Conley was absent due to injury, and Walker replaced him as the starter. The two favorites to win the championship have launched a fierce competition in this campaign.
Jokic set 4 records with 40+7+13, and the Nuggets won the game point! Edwards was 5-of-15 and Gobert was 7-of-7!
Full game review
At the beginning of the first quarter, Pope and Murray each had a single hit, McDaniels dunked, Gobert sent a big hat, Towns scored 5 points in the middle and long range, and Pope dunked. Jokic scored seven points in a row, Walker and McDaniels scored from the outside one after another, Porter, Pope and Edwards hit three-pointers, and Jokic scored another five points with free throws. Lee Kyle and Towns each hit a jumper, Reggie Jackson hit the inside and scored two goals, and Walker hit a three-pointer. At the end of the first quarter, the Timberwolves trailed 26-28.
Lee Kyle defends Jokic
In the second quarter of the competition, Gobert dunked continuously, Malone ate T, Gordon dunked successfully, the Timberwolves continued to attack fouls, and the two teams fell into a big iron battle. Morris and Towns each hit singles, and Jokic, Gordon, and Braun teamed up to score under the basket. Towns and Morris each hit jumpers, and Gordon and Braun responded with heavy dunks. Jokic and Walker went head-to-head, with each scoring five points and Murray hitting a shot. At halftime, the Timberwolves trailed 44-50.
In the first half, Edwards scored 5 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists on 1-of-8 shooting, Lee Kyle had 2 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, McDaniels had 5 points and 3 assists, Gobert had 5 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, Towns had 11 points and 5 boards, and Walker had 11 points, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Jokic finished with 19 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 1 block on 7-of-10 shooting, Gordon had 6 points and 4 boards, Porter had 3 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks, Murray had 4 points, Pope had 7 points and 3 boards, and Braun had 7 points and 2 blocks.
Edwards defends Murray
In the rematch, Downs scored on the board, Edwards hit 2 free throws, and Downs hit a long shot. Porter hit an outside shot, McDaniels scored singlely, Gobert blocked Gordon, Towns assisted Gobert for a dunk, and the Timberwolves went on an 11-3 offensive run to lead by 2 points. Gobert blocked Gordon's dunk again, Gordon scored a layup in color, Murray scored a layup, Gordon dunked violently, Towns forced the inside to score points, Pope hit an outside shot, Walker hit a three-pointer one after another, Murray counterattacked and dunked, and the Nuggets responded with an 11-2 offensive frenzy.
Finch called a timeout, Gobert dunked in the air, Jokic hooked up and scored, and McDaniels dunked. Jokic scored four straight points in the low post, Edwards hit two free throws, and Murray and Gordon combined for six free throws to give the Nuggets a 13-point lead. Edwards made a layup and then hit a 2+1 to stop the bleeding for the Timberwolves. Jokic scored on a hook shot, Morris scored on a layup, and Malone called a timeout. Jokic hit 2+1, and the call for MVP rang out on the spot.
Jokic singled Gobert
Gobert scored in the restricted area, Jokic hit 2 free throws, and then scored 2+1, and the Nuggets took a 14-point lead. Gobert scored on a layup and Reggie Jackson scored on a throw. At the end of the third quarter, the Timberwolves trailed 74-88, and Jokic scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the first quarter.
In the final quarter, Gordon scored in the restricted area, Reed responded with a violent dunk, the Timberwolves missed a long shot one after another, Gobert hit 2 free throws, Reed split the dunk, and Malone asked for a timeout. Pope hit a three-pointer, McDaniels missed consecutive outside shots, Pope made another long shot, Towns couldn't shoot, Murray stealed, Jokic dunked, and the Nuggets took an 18-point lead.
Jokic dunked
Finch called a timeout, Edwards scored on a layup, Towns scored with a hook shot, and Braun answered a three-pointer. Walker scored from the outside, Jokic didn't score, Reed scored on a difficult layup, Towns made 1 of 2 free throws, and the Timberwolves went on a 10-3 run. Gordon scored a buzzer-beating jumper, Edwards scored on a quick layup, and Jokic and Reed each missed a single shot. Jokic blasted a buzzer-beating shot into the face of Gobert's defense, and the Timberwolves called a timeout again.
Walker didn't score from the outside, Murray scored on a mid-range shot, Gobert made a throw, and Murray hit a single. Gobert made 1 of 2 free throws, Murray scored on a layup, and Reed hit an iron from the outside. Towns scored a layup and the game ran out, and in the end, Denver defeated the Timberwolves 112-97 to make it three wins in the semifinals.
The Nuggets won the battle of Tianwang Mountain and won the match point
The Nuggets won the battle of Kings Mountain and took the match point, and Denver only needed one more win to advance to the Western Conference Finals. The G6 matchup between the two sides will be played at the home stadium of Minnesota.
McDaniels had 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, Towns had 23 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, Walker had 14 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks, and Reed had 7 points and 3 rebounds.
Gordon vs. Murray
Gordon scored 18 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists on 7-of-14 shooting, Murray had 16 points and 4 assists, Pope had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists + 4 3-pointers, Porter only scored 6 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks on 2-of-10 shooting, and Braun had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks on both offensive and defensive ends.
Jokic set a record of 4 with 40+7+13
Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic played a perfect game in this game. Jokic played 41 minutes, shooting 15-of-22, 2-of-3 from three-point range, 8-of-9 from the free-throw line, and blasted 40 points, 7 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 0 turnovers. Jokic scored a game-high 68 percent from the field and was a god on the offensive end. Jokic scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half and 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the second half. In the third quarter, Jokic scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, completely breaking down the opponent's restricted area defense.
Gobert defends Jokic
Jokic can be described as a supergod performance, achieving indiscriminate dimensionality reduction. As the assist king of this game, Jokic led the team to achieve five double-doubles. At the same time, Jokic is also the steal king of this game. Jokic has performed well on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends and in tandem with the team. In this game, Jokic's plus/minus is still a game-high +21, and his top dominance can be seen. I have to say that Jokic is indeed the league's No. 1 combat force at the moment.
In addition, Jokic also set four major records in this game. First, when Jokic handed out his 12th assist, his playoff career assists had reached 590, surpassing O'Neal and rising to fourth place on the all-time center list, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Chamberlain.
Jokic set four records
Second, this is the fifth time in Jokic's playoff career that he has scored at least 40 points, and he is the second center player in the league to score at least 40+ points in the playoffs at least five times in the 21st century, comparable to O'Neal.
Third, Jokic scored 40 points, 7 rebounds, 13 assists and 0 turnovers. According to statistics, the last player to score at least 40 points, 10 assists and 0 turnovers in the NBA playoffs was Chris Paul 6 years ago (vs. Jazz G5, 41 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds and 0 turnovers, leading the team to the Western Conference finals).
Jokic and Murray are competing with Edwards and Towns
Fourth, Jokic is the first player in NBA playoff history to score at least 15 goals and deliver at least 10 assists in a single game without turnovers.
Edwards 5 of 15
Anthony Edwards, the star of the Timberwolves, did not play well in this game. Edwards played 44 minutes, 5-of-15, 1-of-5 three-pointers, 7-of-8 free throws, and finished with 18 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists and 1 steal, but had a game-high 4 turnovers and a plus/minus of -12.
Edwards jumper
Edwards shot just 33 percent from the field and dropped to 20 percent from three-point range. Faced with the Nuggets' high-pressure defense, Edwards was completely lost on the offensive end. Edwards scored just five points on 1-of-8 shooting in the first half, and although his form picked up in the second half, he still fell into a cycle of crazy iron and turnovers.
Gobert was 7 of 7
Rudy Gobert, the Timberwolves' interior giant, performed remarkably in this game. Gobert played 40 minutes, shooting 7-of-7 from the field and 4-of-7 from the free-throw line, and had a double-double of 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Gobert has a 100 percent shooting percentage and is the rebounding, stealing and blocking champion of the game. However, Gobert couldn't stop Jokic's rampage.
Gobert and Jokic stuck under the basket
The stats show that before entering the fourth quarter, Jokic shot 7 of 7 from the field against Gobert's defense. Jokic achieved an all-round rampage and blew up the Timberwolves' interior group. Gobert, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, is also powerless to limit Jokic's play.