DENVER — With the season quickly approaching, Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman said before the game that Monday night’s Game 5 will be “all hands on deck.”
This is not a smokescreen.
With Aaron Gordon suffering a calf injury, the Nuggets began looking early for players whose previous roles in this series ranged from inconsistent to non-existent.
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Starring Spencer Jones. Cameron Johnson had his best game of the series. Jonas Valnciunas contributed. Tyus Jones played his first non-garbage time minute of the series when the Nuggets went 10 deep.
As a result, the Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 125-113, reducing the series deficit to 3-2 and keeping the season alive.
Nikola Jokic (27 points, 16 assists, 12 rebounds) and Jamal Murray (24 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds) led the way. But they don’t have to do all that, and they don’t run out of gas at the last minute. For the first time since Game 1, the Nuggets didn’t look like a disadvantage after halftime.
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Instead, they scored 37 points on 13-for-21 shooting in the third quarter to seal the win and let a raucous Denver crowd celebrate the season extension in large part in the fourth quarter. Without Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo, they threw the Timberwolves’ offense into disarray, forcing 25 turnovers and creating multiple opportunities in transition on offense.
“I think this is the first time we’ve done what they did to us,” Jokic said of turning the defense into a transition bucket. “Those 2-on-1s, 1-on-0s … are definitely things that kill opponents. You put in a lot of effort to score and other guys come up and make layups. …
“It just kills your motivation. It’s definitely something we need to do more of.”
Spencer Jones replaces Aaron Gordon
Jones earned his first standard NBA contract in February after playing his first 1.5 NBA seasons on a two-way contract. Despite playing in his first career playoff series, he earned the trust of Adelman and his teammates and started in place of Gordon for the second time in this series.
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The result was one of the best games of Jones’ short career. He hit consecutive three-pointers in the third quarter to help Denver extend its lead to 15 points.
He made 7 of 9 shots from the field and 4 of 5 three-pointers and scored 20 points.
“Some guys want a chance,” Adelman said of Jones after the game. “Other people run with them. He’s been doing that all season.”
Jones also is Minnesota’s primary defender on first-choice pick Julius Randle. He faced off against big men in the paint many times. In three games on Tuesday night, the Nuggets often lacked physicality.
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“I’m kind of excited about being in the playoffs because it helps my game more, less tricky fouls and I can be more aggressive,” Jones said. “You saw Randall and I fighting all night long.
“They unleash more physicality. I like that. That’s why I really want to go into the playoffs and, you know, keep the referees away from me.”
Role player, comes off the bench
Cameron Johnson averaged 10 points in Games 1-4 and scored a series-high 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
Tyus Jones and Valanciunas were teammates with the Memphis Grizzlies for two seasons and made clutch plays together in critical moments. They are not eye-catching. But they got the job done where Denver struggled in Games 2-4.
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“Theis is Theis,” Adelman said. “Nothing spectacular, just clean, just playing clean basketball.”
Cleaning up the Nuggets’ basketball was an element that had been missing from most of the previous games in this series.
Can Denver do this on the road?
The series now returns to Minneapolis for Game 6, with the Nuggets facing two more elimination games in the best-case scenario. But they still have a chance. They’ll face a depleted Timberwolves team that will play without Edwards (knee) and DiVincenzo (Achilles).
But even with Minnesota shorthanded, the road game won’t be easy. Role players tend to thrive on the home court of the NBA. Creating on the road is an entirely different task, especially when the playoff shine dims.
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During the Jokic-Murray era, the Nuggets have come back from 3-1 deficit twice in the playoffs, with both victories coming in the 2020 bubble playoffs. If they want to survive Game 6 and return home for another 3-1 comeback in Game 7, they’re going to need their role players to thrive again on Thursday — this time on the road.