NBA Matchups: May 16

Denver Nuggets at Minnesota Timberwolves

Team Totals: Nuggets 101, Wolves 103

Injury Report: Jamal Murray (Q, calf), Mike Conley (Q, calf)

Wolves projected starters: Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert

Nuggets projected starters: Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic 

Offensive Ranks: Wolves 16th, Nuggets 5th (post-break Wolves 17th, Nuggets 3rd)
Defensive Ranks: Wolves 1st, Nuggets 9th (Wolves 3rd, Nuggets 4th)

Finch quotes: Said they tried everything on Joker and he played like the best player in the world again, said they needed to keep making the simple play, said they knew they were going to have more pressure on Ant with Conley out of the lineup, said Gobert was rolling a ton and he finished better around the basket, said they were doing a better job of not letting Jokic catch the ball early.

Malone quotes: Said he wasn’t surprised to see Jokic play so well, said they knew they had to do something different with Anthony Edwards and they trapped him more, said it wasn’t just Jokic and the whole team stepped up, said their 30:12 assist:TO ratio was big for them, said he trusts Jokic “1000%”, said Christian Braun has been excellent off the bench and he trusts him to close games now, said they played like champs in the last three games, said Jokic’s “IQ is off the charts” and Jokic is ahead of everyone when Malone is quizzing his guys on plays.

Stats and Notes:

Rim points per game: Wolves 12th, Nuggets 8th

Rim points allowed per game: Wolves 1st, Nuggets 14th

Catch and shoot points per game: Wolves 21st, Nuggets 24th

Catch and shoot points allowed per game: Wolves 5th, Nuggets 3rd

PNR handler scoring per game: Wolves 25th, Nuggets 29th

PNR handler scoring allowed per game: Wolves 20th, Nuggets 3rd

Transition scoring per game: Wolves 25th, Nuggets 22nd

Transition scoring allowed per game: Wolves 7th, Nuggets 9th

*If you watched Game 5, you probably don’t even need to read any of this. Nothing matters. Nikola Jokic is just better than everyone right now. Enjoy the game tonight!

*Just kidding, of course. I’ll save the Joker stuff below, but the Wolves’ offense really had a tough time in Game 5. The constant trapping of Anthony Edwards was in play when Mike Conley went out, and the Wolves just didn’t have enough ability to attack their advantages when they put two on the ball. In two of the last three games, they have had two of their worst offensive games all postseason and it’s not even close. What hurt them the most in Game 5 was just four points in transition for the fewest points in transition they had in a game all season. Meanwhile, the Nuggets scored 29 points in transition for their most in a game this postseason. The Wolves also ran badly on their unguarded C&S shots at just 0.55 PPP. Considering the lack of scoring out of Ant, it’s almost hard to believe they flirted with 100 points. Denver’s offense was about just one man who likes horses.