The Timberwolves punched the Nuggets in the mouth in Game 3 and came away with a 113-96 win to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series. The Nuggets put up their worst offensive performance of the season as a team tonight.
Rudy Gobert managed to put the clamps on Nikola Jokic as the Nuggets were held to their season’s lowest field-goal percentage as a team in any game played. They shot 28-32 as a team (34.1 FG%) when they hadn’t been held to under 40.0% from the field even once the entire regular season.
Following the game, the Serbian superstar spoke to the media and admitted that while a significant portion of the Nuggets’ offensive struggles tonight were a result of missing shots they usually make, the Timberwolves defense also played a pivotal role in holding them to under 100 points (only the third time this has happened with the Nuggets in the entire season).
“Yeah, I mean, we kind of created open looks. We didn’t make it. The physicality was there, I think, on both sides, but I think they’re big, long, and they’re really good defensive players, so they’re making you shoot over them or just make extra moves.”
“Especially in the fourth quarter, we couldn’t make a shot, and when you open the game like that, it’s kind of hard because then the easy ones are not going to go either. So just a really good defensive quarter by them and a really bad offensive quarter by us,” said Jokic on the Nuggets’ 11-point first-quarter struggles that began the slippery slope for them tonight.
“I mean, they’re definitely, like I said, they’re big, long, you know, they’re making you think about it like with contests, you know, give them credit, they’re really good,” Jokic further added. “Like I just said, when you think, then you’re going to start missing the easy ones, the open ones. So, it’s frustrating, yeah.”
Nikola Jokic ended the night with 27 points, 15 rebounds, and three assists while shooting 7-26 from the floor (26.9 FG%) and 2-10 from beyond the arc (20.0 3P%). He got 11 of his points from the free-throw line. But what was more surprising was his low number of assists.
“It’s defense. They’re a really good defensive team, and we couldn’t make shots,” said Jokic on why he struggled with playmaking and only had three assists tonight.
“And then I think to be a distributor if I make a little bit of shots, then the defense is going to react. So I think that’s why I couldn’t get anybody involved because they didn’t help; it was just a one-on-one coverage.”
“So, I think I needed to do a little bit better job scoring, and then I think it’s going to open up for everybody else,” concluded Jokic.
While both David Adelman and Nikola Jokic tried to discount the impact of the Timberwolves’ defense, they simply could not deny that they made it very tough for them to score.
Rudy Gobert was the primary defender on Nikola Jokic tonight, and he was +21 in the net (+/-) rating when guarding the Serbian superstar. The French center finished the game with 10 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, and three blocks while going 3-7 from the field (42.9 FG%).
After the game, even Rudy Gobert addressed his matchup with Nikola Jokic, and he admitted that he took it as a challenge to guard Jokic while giving him flowers as well.
“Just trying to compete. As I said, he’s the greatest offensive player I’ve guarded my whole career. Just trying to enjoy the challenge and make him work as much as I can, but also, it was a team effort.
“My teammates, Jaden, Dante, Ayo, Ant, Julius, everyone in the game gave us something defensively. I just have to keep working and keep trying to make him earn everything he gets, that’s the biggest thing,” said Gobert on his matchup with Jokic.
Clearly, even with Anthony Edwards seemingly on a minutes restriction while recovering from a lingering knee injury, the Timberwolves have it in them to defeat the Nuggets. Game 4 is essentially a must-win for the Nuggets to avoid the series slipping away from their hands completely.
They will hope that Saturday is not a repeat of tonight’s performance, as they will pray for some positive news on Aaron Gordon, a key starter who was a late scratch tonight.
Do you think the Nuggets can steal Game 4 on the road in Minnesota? Or will the Timberwolves take a resounding 3-1 lead before heading back to Denver for Game 5? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
