Murray, Joki Lift Nuggets Past Timberwolves In First Round

(CTN News) – This five-game series between the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks has certainly been exciting.

On Tuesday night, the Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves 112-109, winning the series 4-1 and advancing to the next round.

Although it was a hard fought game and a hard fought series, the Nuggets proved to be too talented and disciplined for the Timberwolves.

Throughout the first three quarters of the game, there was no scoring for the until Jamal Murray scored 35 points, pulled down four rebounds, and dished out five assists, elevating the team’s performance.

In the most crucial moments of the game, Denver required every bit of his performance.

A final line of 28 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists, two steals, and two blocks over the course of the game illustrates just how impactful Joki can be even when images don’t fall on his shot.

Despite making only 8 of 29 shots, he had a +3 plus-minus in 43 minutes, which is exactly the margin by which the game was decided.

My takeaways after watching the Nuggets’ Game 5 game against the Timberwolves on Tuesday night are as follows:

I think it is evident that the Nuggets trust Jokić wholeheartedly.

It is he who makes the final decisions during these moments, even if Murray is acting wild. The Nuggets will make or break the team based on his performance, and he should have the ball in his hands at all times.

The two-time MVP has consistently performed at a high level during the playoffs, having been the MVP on two occasions. In spite of his poor offensive performance in Game 5, the still trusted Jokić to make it happen, and he did.

Jokić also had some big defensive moments and helped the Nuggets win the game on that end with his blitzing defense against Anthony Edwards, who wasn’t as good in game 5 as he was earlier. Things got done because he won the DPOG chain.

It was Jamal Murray who kept the Nuggets in it

Without Jamal Murray, the Nuggets would’ve been blown out by the 8-seed at home tonight. Nickeil Alexander-Walker made Murray’s life extremely difficult during two subpar games in Minnesota, so Murray changed things up a bit, offloading the ball almost every possession. Those freed him up to run around and get off the ball, and he did.

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