On May 15, Beijing time, the NBA Division semifinals continued. In the game that ended before in the East, the Celtics led the Cavaliers 3-1 and got the match point, and the Knicks led the Pacers 3-2 and got the match point; On the Western side, the Thunder and the Mavericks drew 2-2, and in the series between the Timberwolves and the Nuggets, both teams won on the road, and what is more interesting is that the Timberwolves won the first two games, one won by 7 points, and the other won by 26 points; The Nuggets won their last two games, one by 8 points and one by 27 points, each one more than you. The Timberwolves went from a big score of 2-0 at the beginning to an equalizer by the Nuggets, Edwards' output was very fierce, averaging 33.3 points per game in this series, but he was really a lone hero, Gobert, as the best defensive player, incarnated as the biggest colander, and the offensive end did not have the ability to attack independently, and Towns felt sluggish and the high-end game was very unstable.
In contrast, the Nuggets have gradually adapted to the Timberwolves' system. Gordon as a strong offensive point with the ball, with Jokic to connect the whole team, and the blocking and dismantling of the two with the Timberwolves are not matched, the other three do shooting points to open up space, and the key Nuggets bench These games from Bryan to Holiday , there are always people who stand up to provide fire support. According to ESPN modeling calculations, the Nuggets have a win rate of 56.1%, and so far in the playoffs, the total RAT value of players ranks first, Edwards is first in the league with 32.59, Jokic is second in the league with 32.49, and other stars are below 30! Before the game, Jokic also received his third MVP trophy in four years, and then was "beaten" by his teammates to celebrate! And Conley, the starting point guard of the Timberwolves, missed the battle of Tianwang Mountain due to a sore Achilles tendon in his right foot. In the history of the NBA, the team that wins Tianwang Mountain has an 81.7% probability of promotion!
Nuggets starters: Murray + Pope + Porter + Gordon + Jokic; Timberwolves starters: Edwards + Alexander Walker + Madan + Towns + Gobert. At the beginning of the game, Pope made an easy jump shot + Murray threw himself and grabbed it, and after Maidan pulled out the onion on the dry land, Downs scored 5 points in a row with an inside and outside shot, which felt good! In the middle of the game, Walker and Maidan rained three points, and after Jokic finished training Gobert, he dribbled and dunked, and no one cared about Jokic in defense! In the second half, Porter and Pope suddenly fired outside, Jokic continued to train Reed, but fortunately, Walker stopped the bleeding with three points, and the Nuggets led the Timberwolves 28-26 in the first quarter! At the beginning of the second quarter, Gobert and Edwards took turns to dunk, Malone scolded the referee for eating a technical foul, and after Gordon made a basket to stop the bleeding, the two teams were dumb offensively. After Jokic misplaced Edwards in the middle of the game, Gordon countered and scored!
In the second half, Downs made consecutive jumpers, but like Reed, they all fell into a 3-foul crisis! Gordon dunks Gobert, Brian quickly splits the dunk, and Edwards has no feel at all! At the end of the quarter, Jokic and Walker hit a three-point shot, and Jokic's negative angle throw can still go in! At halftime, the Nuggets led the Timberwolves 50-44, with Jokic scoring 19 points and eight assists alone, and Towns and Walker each scoring 11 points. At the start of the second half, Towns threw himself and grabbed himself, Edwards made a kill against Jokic, and Towns made a three-pointer, and the Timberwolves overtook in waves! After Porter's three-pointer stopped the bleeding, Forest stopped the Nuggets. At the critical moment, Murray and Pope burst out to shoot, Jokic hit the board with a big hook, and then received the ball and cut to the basket, followed by Reid in military training, Gobert in military training, and Gordon made a kill, and the Nuggets easily opened up the difference. At the end of the quarter, Jokic continued to name Gobert, and Jokic went crazy!
At the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets led the Timberwolves 88-74, Jokic scored 16 points in 6 of 7 in the third quarter, Gobert really tried his best to defend, and Jokic felt against the sky! In the fourth quarter of the decisive battle, Gobert made free throws + Reed dunked to stop the Nuggets, Pope hit two three-pointers + Jokic quickly opened up an 18-point difference! In the middle of the game, Edwards and Towns led the team to chase the 11-point difference again, and in the last 5 minutes, Edwards continued to chase points, Jokic faced Gobert, and it was a ruthless three-point shot! After that, Murray made consecutive shots to lock up the win, and finally the Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves 112-97 at home, leading 3-2 and getting the Western Conference semifinals match point!
Timberwolves statistics, Edwards 18 points, 4 rebounds and 9 assists, Towns 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, Gobert 18 points and 11 rebounds, Walker 14 points and 5 assists, Madan 9 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Nuggets statistics, Jokic went down to earth, 15 of 22 from the field, 40 points, 7 rebounds and 13 assists, Pope 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Murray 16 points and 4 assists, Gordon 18 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, Bryan 10 points and 5 rebounds.
Throughout the game, Jokic's oppression to the Timberwolves can be described in two words: despair! Downs + Reed + Gobert have all fallen into a 4-foul crisis early, Gobert's defense today can be said to be the best presentation in the playoffs, basically every matchup round, the confrontation is given, the angle is also blocked, Jokic can still score, this sense of powerlessness of dimensionality reduction is reflected in the faces of Timberwolves players, and they really can't beat. In addition, Jokic also took care of leading the whole team, although Murray felt average, but Pope and Gordon stood up again in this game, and this round of the series was about to lose suspense, Jokic finally sweated, and the Timberwolves were out of the countdown.