Millsap earns nickname, five stitches in huge win

MINNEAPOLIS» The only thing that was going to keep Paul Millsap off the floor was the clock.

Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns tried to corral his own miss, but he came over the top of Millsap and caught the Nuggets’ forward with his right elbow. Millsap fell to the ground as his teammates, seeing the blood above his left eye, called for the team’s medical staff.

“It was the People’s Elbow,” Millsap joked after the game. “Laid me out pretty good.”

Millsap left the game with 5:23 left in the third quarter and a sterling line of 23 points on 10 for 11 shooting. Had his night been over, he would’ve already done his job.

“There was a question,” Millsap said of his return. “Didn’t know how long it was going to take them to stitch me up. I looked up and there was nine minutes on the clock, so I was like, ‘Oh, I still got time.’ There was no question myself. I wanted to get back in the game.”

With five stitches above his left eye, Millsap returned and picked up right where he left off. He had two rebounds, a crucial block and a baseline floater that helped stave off Minnesota’s fourth-quarter surge. After dropping six of their last seven, the Nuggets hung on 103-101 with a defensive effort symbolic of Millsap’s specialty.

“That’s just what he does,” said Gary Harris. “He’s a winner. Everything he does is to help the team win. Without him we don’t win that game.”

Millsap’s toughness caught the attention of backup guard Monte Morris.

“‘Sap a big time player,” Morris said. “We’re paying him big bucks to do what he did tonight.”

Millsap, who said he came out aggressive in an effort to “get myself going,” may have a new nickname coming his way once his wound heals.

“He’s got a nice scar,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “His new nickname is Scarface. I’m sure he’s going to have a nice headache in the morning.”

Millsap finished with 25 points, five steals, five rebounds and a block.

“These are games we gotta win,” he said. “They came out with a playoff mentality. Tried to get up in us, tried to beat us up a little bit, be physical with us because that’s what beat us last year in the final game.”