Jokic, Nuggets use balanced effort to blast Wolves in playoff series opener

Jamal Murray had 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists, Nikola Jokic finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds, and the host Denver Nuggets routed the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-80 in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series on Sunday, April 16 (Monday, April 17, Manila time).

Michael Porter Jr. had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 15 points, Bruce Brown added 14 points, and Aaron Gordon had 13 points for the top-seeded Nuggets.

Anthony Edwards scored 18 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Jaylen Nowell scored 12 points, Kyle Anderson added 11, and Rudy Gobert finished with 13 rebounds for Minnesota.

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Denver.

The Timberwolves rallied from an eight-point deficit to lead 19-18 late in the first quarter. The Nuggets went back in front and led 26-24 early in the second, and then put together an 11-3 run to go up by 10.

Minnesota got within 45-40, but Denver finished the period strong and took a 55-44 lead into halftime.

The Nuggets capitalized on the Timberwolves’ cold start to the second half. Gordon made four free throws, Caldwell-Pope hit a layup, and Porter drained a long three-pointer to make it 64-45.

Anderson hit Minnesota’s first field goal of the third quarter with 8:18 left, but Porter answered that three-pointer with his third make of the night from deep.

The Timberwolves cut the deficit to 69-53, but Denver took control in the final 4:12 of the third.

Gordon split a pair of free throws and hit a three-pointer and Caldwell-Pope made a finger roll to put the Nuggets ahead 75-53. Austin Rivers briefly ended the outburst with a three-pointer, but Brown and Caldwell-Pope each hit a trey and DeAndre Jordan dunked to make it 83-58.

Things got physical when Anderson was called for a flagrant 1 foul on Christian Braun with 35 seconds left in the period. Braun made one of the free throw attempts and Murray nailed Denver’s sixth three-pointer of the quarter to make it 87-58 heading into the fourth.

The Nuggets went ahead by 32 early in the fourth and easily closed it out. – Rappler.com