Denver moves closer to postseason berth
NUGGETS 100, TIMBERWOLVES 96
Nikola Jokic struggled with his shot all game Thursday night. But when the Nuggets needed a security basket in the waning seconds, he was there to tip the ball in.
The Nuggets used a late surge to gut out a 100-96 victory over the Timberwolves at the Pepsi Center against a division opponent and move closer to that coveted eighth slot in the NBA’s Western Conference playoff race.
Denver, which played its 10th consecutive game without injured second-leading scorer Gary Harris, and Minnesota now have the same record at 44-35 — but the Timberwolves hold the tiebreaker because of their 2-1 series lead with one game remaining in Minneapolis on April 11. Both
teams are a half game behind seventh-place New Orleans. Denver plays Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles against the 10th-place Clippers, who remain one game back of the Nuggets after losing to Utah on Thursday.
The Nuggets took a sevenpoint lead into the fourth quarter but needed to rally for a victory.
After a Nemanja Bejlica 3pointer gave the Timberwolves a 93-90 lead with 2:48 remaining, Will Barton answered with a finish inside and then Jamal Murray sank two free throws after getting Minnesota star Karl-Anthony Towns in the air to send him to the bench on his sixth foul with 1:46 to play.
Wilson Chandler and Paul Millsap each tacked on two more at the free-throw line to extend Denver’s lead to 98-93 with 34.1 seconds remaining. Taj Gibson converted an old-fashioned three-point play on Minnesota’s next possession to cut Denver’s lead to one before Jokic’s tip-in.
Jokic narrowly missed his ninth triple-double (16 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists) of the season, but he was an inefficient 6-of20 from the floor on a night in which Denver shot just 39.3 percent.
Murray led Denver with 22 points, while Barton finished with 14 points, six rebounds and six assists. Devin Harris scored a season-high 20 points, including three 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds of the third quarter that ignited the crowd and gave Denver a 79-72 lead entering the final period.
Towns (26 points, 13 rebounds) and Gibson (17 points, 14 rebounds) compiled double-doubles for Minnesota.
Though all-star guard Jimmy Butler was active for the first time since late February knee surgery, he did not play Thursday.
Minnesota built a 41-33 lead when Jamal Crawford hit a pullup jumper with 5:22 remaining before halftime.
But Denver answered with a 14-6 run capped by an alley-oop dunk by Barton to tie the score at 47 with 1:39 to play before Minnesota took a 54-51 lead into the locker room.