The Denver Nuggets couldn’t make threes, lost Aaron Gordon to foul trouble and fell behind by double digits early. Thanks to patience, defense and their All-Star duo, Denver took Game 1 over the Minnesota Timberwolves anyway.
Jamal Murray scored 30 points and went 16-of-16 from the foul line. Nikola Jokic had a 25-point triple-double, and Gordon returned to finish with 17 points, eight rebounds and several rim-shaking dunks to down the six-seed Wolves, 116-105.
Denver Nuggets won physical battle with Minnesota Timberwolves
Rudy Gobert and the Timberwolves slowed down Denver’s three-time MVP early, forcing four Jokic turnovers in the first quarter and holding him to six points in the first half. Gordon committed three fouls in the first quarter and sat until the second half, but Murray’s 14 points — eight coming at the foul line — kept the Nuggets afloat, along with some timely baskets from reserves Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway, Jr in their 39-point quarter.
The Nuggets finished with 33 foul shots to the Wolves’ 19, a direct result of their forcing the issue on offense. They out-rebounded Minnesota thanks to Jokic, Gordon and a combined 15 boards from Brown and Christian Braun, whose last names are pronounced the same. Timberwolves defensive ace Jaden McDaniels drew a flagrant foul for an aggressive three-point closeout and got a technical foul for shoving Jokic in the back, finishing -17 in his 33 minutes.
Jokic simply wore the Minnesota defense down, even as Gobert and Naz Reid forced him to settle for three-pointers (he went 2-for-7). He committed only one turnover in the final three quarters and took advantage of the defensive attention by finding teammates for 11 assists.