After he made just 15-of-48 shots (31.3%) during the Nuggets‘ two losses in Minnesota, Nikola Jokic submitted a more characteristic performance in Game 5 on Monday, racking up a triple-double (27 points, 16 assists, 12 rebounds) while knocking down 9-of-15 field goal attempts.
Perhaps even more importantly, Denver’s supporting cast stepped up in a major way. Jamal Murray scored 24 points, Cameron Johnson had 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and – in his second career playoff start – Spencer Jones added 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go along with three blocks and three steals.
As Jason Quick of The Athletic and Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required) detail, Jones began the season on a two-way contract but showed as early as the preseason that he deserved a longer look after playing sparingly as a rookie in 2024/25. Jones ended up starting 37 games and averaging 22.1 minutes per night, and he has emerged as a crucial part of Denver’s lineup in these playoffs with Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson sidelined.
As good as Jones was offensively on Monday, head coach David Adelman wanted to talk after the game about the forward’s defense. Adelman first considered a rotation role for Jones last fall based on the way he guarded Brandon Ingram in a preseason game, and his defensive effort was on display again in Game 5 as he took on the Julius Randle assignment.
“He just competes, man,” Adelman said of Jones, who will be a restricted free agent this offseason. “Randle’s an All-Star. Randle’s a load. And nobody in this room would want to be near Randle in their lives. And (Jones) just stands there and takes the hits.
“I thought he was really good outside of one time (at) not fouling him, either, where he made him take tough contested shots. A couple times, (Randle) got to his right shoulder and he laid the ball in with his left hand. But that’s why he gets paid a ton of money, because he’s a really special player. But the stuff early, he pushed him out. That’s the thing with Randle. If you concede space, just go home. I think Spence did a good job of competing for the spot.”
Here are a few more items of interest from around the Northwest:
- Since calling out Denver’s defense after the Timberwolves‘ Game 2 win, Jaden McDaniels has embraced the villain role and was willing to add more fuel to the fire following Minnesota’s loss on Monday, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “I love this environment, everyone hating me, all the hate’s coming toward me,” McDaniels said of being booed by the Denver faithful. “I love it. I don’t care. I feed into it. It just brings the best out of me. We just ended up losing today, but we’re going to win the next one.”
- As Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report notes (via Twitter), the Trail Blazers‘ two-way players have made the trip to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday. Players on two-way contracts aren’t eligible to play in the postseason, but Portland was the only team not to bring its two-way players on the road during the first two games of a first-round series, with new owner Tom Dundon looking to reduce spending.
- After finishing either 29th or 30th in defensive rating in each of the past three seasons, the Jazz expect former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. to help on that end of the court in 2025/26. Still, they know they’ll need to do more this offseason to fix one of the league’s worst defenses, according to Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. “Defense is going to be a team-wide goal for us this summer,” president of basketball operations Austin Ainge said. “Every guy’s been told that we’re making a big leap next year defensively. No discussion. It’s going to happen.” Head coach Will Hardy singled out Ace Bailey and Keyonte George as two players he wants to see more from on defense.