DENVER — Nikola Jokic celebrated his third NBA MVP award Tuesday night by scoring 40 points and shutting out Anthony Edwards in the Denver Nuggets' 112-97 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
This puts the reigning NBA champions one win away from advancing to the Western Conference Finals.
Jokic also had 13 assists and seven rebounds with no turnovers as the home team won for the first time in this semifinal series. Aaron Gordon added 18 points and 10 boards, and Jamal Murray scored 16 points.
Edwards was held to 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 23 points and Rudy Gobert had 18 points.
The Wolves, who suffered their first three-game losing streak of the season, will have to fix Thursday night's blunder at Target Center to force a Game 7 in Denver.
Jokic, who was presented with his third MVP trophy by commissioner Adam Silver during a pregame ceremony, scored 19 points in the first half to lead Denver 50-44 at halftime. He added 16 points in the third quarter, when the Nuggets extended their lead to 14 points.
Jokic's dunk with 7:12 left in the fourth gave Denver a 98-80 lead. After the Timberwolves trailed 103-92, Jokic made a 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer over a helpless Gobert, winning his fourth NBA Defensive Player of the Year award and scoring just over three points. The lead was 14 points. A few minutes left.
The Wolves inched up a 55-53 lead early in the third quarter, then Jokic assisted on four consecutive baskets during Denver's 11-2 run to take a 64-57 lead the rest of the way.
Edwards was averaging 33.3 points in the first four games of the series, and the Timberwolves were looking for a player who could step up. Towns accomplished just that, but Edwards missed eight of his first nine shots and had five points by halftime, but couldn't find his shooting touch until the game was running away from the Timberwolves. .
Timberwolves veteran point guard Mike Conley suffered a scrape to his right Achilles tendon just before tipoff. He was injured Sunday when he missed a 3-point shot on the Timberwolves' final possession of the loss. Nickell Alexander-Walker started in his place and had 14 points and five assists.
Minnesota coach Chris Finch said before the game that the Timberwolves were looking to increase their rotation whether Conley played or not, and after Denver's bench outnumbered the Timberwolves' reserves in Minneapolis, Monte Morris He said he found time for Morris scored six points.
In his pregame comments, Finch also expressed regret that the NBA fined Gobert $75,000 for demanding money after a call from referee Scott Foster in Game 4. expressed.
