By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Inspired by the Michael Jordan Trophy, Nikola Jokic delivered 40 points and more for the Denver Nuggets. From receiving the award as the most valuable player of the 2023-24 NBA Regular Season by Commissioner Adam Silver before tipoff to orchestrating a 112-97 victory versus the Minnesota Timberwolves in Ball Arena on Tuesday.
Emerging as the first team to win a home game in the best-of-seven series of the 2024 NBA Playoffs Presented by Google Pixel Western Conference Semifinals, the defending champions jumped to a 3-2 lead. The Joker went for 40 points behind 15/22 field goals, including two three-pointers. His 13 assists shaped a double-double to go with seven rebounds, two steals, one block, and zero turnovers over 41 minutes.
“I know they are just goofballs,” Jokic described his teammates having fun on the bench, pretending to faint after consecutive buckets during a dominating display through the second half of Game 5, “We had a good run and they should do that.”
Nikola Jokic DOMINATED tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves 😳
40 PTS
13 REB
7 AST
0 TO
W ✅— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) May 15, 2024
Struggling to contain the Serbian superstar, French Rudy Gobert posted an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double plus three assists, two steals, and two blocks over 40 minutes. Naturalized Bosnian teammate Luka Garza stayed on the bench.
Stuck to the injury list of the Nuggets, Slovenian Vlatko Cancar (left knee surgery) has been ruled out for the entire season.
Brunson carries the Knicks
Earlier in the Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks routed the Indiana Pacers, 121-91, for a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals series. A 44-point showing by Jalen Brunson paved the way for the team coached by Tom Thibodeau.
“I just want to be more physical. I feel like the game in Indiana, I was not playing like myself. I was not being physical,” explained German Isaiah Hartenstein after piling up seven points, 17 rebounds, five assists, and one block.
British OG Anunoby (left hamstring strain) and Croatian Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot surgery) remained sidelined.