Faced with key injuries, the Minnesota Timberwolves will try to close out their Western Conference first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 on Thursday in Minneapolis.
Minnesota successfully managed Game 4 despite losing star Anthony Edwards and his starting backcourt mate, Donte DiVincenzo, early. But with Edwards sidelined due to a bone bruise and hyperextension in his left knee and DiVincenzo gone with a torn right Achilles tendon, the Timberwolves dropped a close-out opportunity on Monday in Denver, 125-113.
Edwards and DiVincenzo were both catalysts as Minnesota gained the early advantage in the series, with Edwards going for 30 points and 10 rebounds in Game 2. DiVincenzo scored a total of 31 points in Games 2 and 3, both Timberwolves victories.
With the two perimeter playmakers out Monday, Minnesota committed 25 turnovers — two more than the Timberwolves lost in their previous two games combined, and a team-high dating back to before the All-Star break.
“A lot of silly, forced play by guys trying to make something out of nothing,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said of the Game 5 turnover woes.
Finch also pointed to Denver’s defensive adjustments, noting that the Nuggets “put two (defenders)” on Ayo Dosunmu for the first time in the series.
Dosunmu, a late-season acquisition via trade from Chicago, emerged as the hero in Game 4 after Edwards and DiVincenzo exited. He scored 43 points, bookended by performances of 25 and 18 points, respectively, in Games 3 and 5.
Aside from Julius Randle’s 27 points, however, no other Minnesota player managed more than 13 in Monday’s loss.
Denver, meanwhile, got 18-plus points from four of its five starters in the elimination contest. Among the quartet was forward Spencer Jones, who has seen a significant uptick in minutes with Aaron Gordon dealing with a calf injury.
Jones, who scored 11 total points in the series’ first four games, went for 20 in Game 5. Gordon, who averaged 16.2 points per game in the regular season, played limited minutes in Game 4, but missed both Games 3 and 5 and is listed as questionable for Thursday.
Jones, who averaged just 5.5 points per game in the regular season, delivered his highest-scoring performance since Dec. 1 (28 points) at an opportune time.
“It’s something that happened throughout the season, guys going down and me getting an opportunity to start,” Jones said. “I’ll get more minutes, but the role is still the same, the duties are still the same.”
Building on the momentum from his making four 3-pointers Monday, Jones could play a role in Denver’s key perimeter scorer, Jamal Murray, finding cleaner looks from beyond the arc.
Murray has scored 30 points three times in the series, and with his 24 in Game 5, he is up to 26.0 points per game through the five contests. That’s a team-high, outpacing three-time league Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic’s 25.4 ppg.
However, Murray has gone 0-for from deep twice, including the Game 3 loss.
Jokic, meanwhile, had his best game of the series Monday, finishing as a plus-18 with 27 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds. He was a plus-one, minus-21 and minus-12 in Denver’s three losses.
–Field Level Media
