Like the Celtics, the Nuggets played “little arm” in this sixth round to the point of taking 15 points behind in the first quarter! But in front of his audience, Nikola Jokic pulled out all the stops, and he proved that he too could be a “clutch”. Author of a “triple double”, the Serb made the difference one minute from the end. He first misses his shot in the middle, but he takes his rebound. He still misses his shot behind, but he takes the rebound to finally score (106-104). Behind, it is still him who takes the defensive rebound after a miss from Anthony Edwards.
Anthony Edwards misses the equalizer
On the counter-attack, he arrives in “trailer”, and the Wolves forget him. Jamal Murray, and he scores with the fault (109-104). There are less than 30 seconds left to play. The Wolves respond with a 3-point shot from Mike Conley (109-107), and it’s Bruce Brown who blows the room with two free throws (111-107). But Anthony Edwards Still believes in it, and he goes to score quickly (111-109). There are three seconds left to play. Then fault on Jokic who only puts one out of two throws.
There are two seconds left, Denver leads by three points (112-109). The last shot is for Anthony Edwards. His shot is complicated, he is in line but he hits the back of the circle! It’s over, the Nuggets are in the conference semi-finals and the Wolves are on vacation!
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
Offensive rebound. The “money time” is a bit of a symbol of this series with more aggressive Nuggets on the offensive rebound to give themselves second chances. Alone, Jokic takes 9 offensive rebounds, it’s more than all Wolves combined! The 6th fault of Rudy Gobert weighs heavily.
Home field advantage. The West’s best home team, the Nuggets have lost just seven games at home this year. In the playoffs, it’s a valuable advantage, and we saw last night how the public could influence the end of the match. To be confirmed on Saturday against the Suns.
Super close match. From the 2nd quarter, and the comeback of the Nuggets, there has never been more than two possessions between the two teams!
TOPS/FLOPS
✅Nikola Jokic. A “triple-double” of boss (28/17/12!) with a domination in the offensive rebound, but also an aggressiveness towards the circle.
✅Jamal Murray. He holds the house in the 1st half, and this time, the Wolves did not find the solution to mark him.
✅⛔Michael Porter Jr. He wakes up at the best time, in the last quarter, with newfound address. He helped a lot in the rebound.
✅⛔Anthony Edwards. A superb copy and still a lot of guts in his decision-making. Unfortunately, he finds himself at 3-point: 0 out of 6, including the shot to try to snatch the extension.
✅⛔The Gobert-Towns pair. They weighed on the start of the match, and even if their automatisms are not there yet, they proved that they could make the difference. Unfortunately, they are eaten in the home stretch by Jokic.
THE FOLLOWING
Saturday, the Nuggets will start their series against the Suns with home advantage
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How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D= defensive rebound; T = Total Bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Points = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
