DENVER (AP) — Michael Malone looked around Tuesday and wondered where everyone was. Not just Denver fans, but the Nuggets themselves.
“It happened to our team like the crowd tonight, we were late,” Malone said after Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray helped the Nuggets overcome a slow start to eliminate the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-109 in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series.
Anthony Edwards, who led Minnesota with 29 points, missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime.
The Nuggets, who ranked first, will face the Phoenix Suns, who eliminated the Clippers, in a five-game series in a second round that begins Saturday in Denver.
Jokic added a triple double and scored 28 points despite missing 21 of 29 shots, and Murray scored 35 points to help the Nuggets overcome an early deficit. Malone earned his 25th playoff win for Denver, one more than Doug Moe.
The game was taking place a little earlier than normal, and a storm slowed down traffic in downtown Denver, so fans arrived a little late at Ball Arena.
“We played that first quarter like a regular season game,” Malone said. “And then little by little, I saw Jamal make a couple of baskets. And he plays with a lot of emotion. I think he got the team going.”
That was lucky for Denver, as Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. were 11-for-39 from the field and the Nuggets trailed 13 in the first quarter.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points for Wolves, Rudy Gobert added 16 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out and Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 14 points.
