Nikola Jokic’s triple double pushes Nuggets past T-Wolves, 120-111, as Denver eyes first-round sweep

Nikola Jokic secured a triple double in Denver’s 120-11 victory against Minnesota as the top-seeded Nuggets win a first round win against the struggling T-Wolves.

‘The Joker’ dropped 20 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in Denver’s third straight win against eighth-seeded Minnesota. Michael Porter Jr. was the Nuggets’ second-highest scorer of Friday-night’s away win with 25 points, and nearly got a double-double, but fell short by a rebound (9).

For Minnesota, Anthony Edwards’ 36 points wasn’t enough to earn what could have been a costly home win for his team, as the series will likely wrap up in four or five games.

No team has come back from a 3-0 postseason deficit in NBA history.

Karl-Anthony Towns registered 27 points for the T-Wolves. Rudy Gobert had 18 points and 10 rebounds to give himself a rare postseason double-double.

Both teams will compete again for Game 4 at Target Center on Sunday, with tickets starting at just $20.

Bruce Brown had 12 points to lead Denver’s 29–10 bank point lead, and the Nuggets shot a hard-to-beat 57 percent from the field.

With the Nuggets holding onto their first 2-0 lead in nine playoff series under Mike Malone, their message from the coach was to keep the throttle up and not give the underdog Wolves extra confidence.

The Western Conference’s top team complied by shooting as if placement depended on it and outsmarting the Wolves for just about every long rebound. The Nuggets had two runs of 9-0 in the first half and could hardly go wrong, starting the second quarter with 12 of their first 16 shots and building a 13-point lead.

Then Edwards, who had 41 points in Game 2 for the franchise playoff record, single-handedly brought the Wolves back with the kind of starburst only players like him are capable of.

After a lazy pass from Towns was picked up by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Edwards rushed to the block and quickly converted a Euro-step layup at the other end.

The Wolves kept up the momentum and cut the lead back to 61-55 just before halftime. At the end of the third quarter, they were still within six points.

The Wolves won their play-in game here a week ago by going big on the back of Towns and Gobert, the unlikely combination they pulled off when former Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly ran for the same job in Minnesota and a blockbuster trade for Gobert.

The Wolves attacked the basket better than they had in the first two games, and Towns pulled off Jokic’s fourth foul with 5:51 over in the third quarter, but the 2-foot-tall Serb is just too skilled — and too heavy — to beat that way become.

The two-time reigning NBA MVP led the league with 29 triple-doubles during the regular season.