The fact that Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets weren’t at their best on Saturday yet still managed to pull out a series-opening victory should scare both the Timberwolves and the rest of the NBA’s playoff field, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.
While Jokic finished with 25 points (on 12-of-19 shooting), 13 rebounds and 11 assists (five turnovers) in 40 minutes, his performance was just OK by his lofty standards. Rudy Gobert, who had 17 points (on 8-of-9 shooting) and 10 rebounds, deserves a lot of credit for slowing Jokic down, especially in the first half, according to Thompson.
“It’s all Rudy,” Jaden McDaniels said. “Rudy did a good job the whole game just guarding and taking the challenge. That’s what we need every time we play against Jokic, just Rudy coming to compete. That’s the best game we’ve had from Rudy this year.
“He keep doing that,” McDaniels continued, “we’re going to win.”
The problem what that statement is the Wolves dropped a winnable Game 1, Thompson observes, even with Gobert playing near his peak and Jokic being merely good. If Denver’s depth can continue to deliver, Jokic will have more energy left in the tank as the Nuggets look to make a deep playoff run.
Here’s more on the first-round series between the two Northwest Division rivals:
- Another troubling takeaway for Minnesota from Game 1? Denver shot just 1-of-17 from three point range in the second half, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link), and 10-for-36 overall (27.8%). The Nuggets, who converted a league-high 39.6% from deep as a team, went just 1-7 during the regular season when they shot under 28% from deep, but still came away with a win on Saturday, notes Wolf Wise Statistics (via Twitter).
- Jamal Murray also wasn’t at his best in Game 1, shooting just 7-of-22 from the field, including 0-of-8 from long distance. However, the Canadian star still finished with a game-high 30 points as he went 16-for-16 at the foul line, notes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. While several members of the Timberwolves took digs at the overall free throw discrepancy (33 to 19), they said that wasn’t the main reason they lost the game, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “Just key mistakes. Just little things, we put them on the free-throw line. A bunch of little things at certain moments,” said Julius Randle, who scored 16 points and was 7-for-16 from the field. “We’d get it to five, and they’d go on a 4-0 run, 6-0 run, stuff like that. We just gotta limit our mistakes down the stretch and try not to put ourselves in that position.”
- Although Anthony Edwards‘ overall stats (22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three blocks in 38 minutes) were solid, he didn’t look completely healthy as he continues to battle a nagging right knee injury and the Wolves definitely need more from him to win the series, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Head coach Chris Finch said Edwards wasn’t physically compromised, and Edwards agreed. “I felt good,” Edwards said. “I mean, a little fatigued. I haven’t played in like a month, month-and-a-half, so a little fatigued. But that was expected. Other than that, I felt good.”
- Nuggets coach David Adelman said Christian Braun did a “great” job limiting Edwards to an off shooting night (he was 7-of-19 from the field), according to Jason Quick of The Athletic, who says Braun looks forward to the challenge of slowing down the best players in the league. “I’m gonna learn what Ant does throughout the series … and it’s a series for a reason,” Braun said. “But I love the challenge. I love being able to guard the best players every night. I take pride … and obviously, it’s my job. So I gotta do it.“