The Minnesota Timberwolves took a 2-1 lead in the best of seven game series in the NBA playoffs first round after beating the Denver Nuggets 113-96 and Denver star Nikola Jokic praised Minnesota’s defensive performance.
This came on the back of Jokic registering 27 points and 15 rebounds in 35 minutes but Jokic’s impressive scoring numbers were produced in an uncharacteristically inefficient manner.
The big Serb converted just seven of 26 field goal attempts and converted just two of 10 three point shot attempts in the game. He scored all 11 free throw shot attempts.
On the other hand, Minnesota’s Jayden MacDaniels and Rudy Gobert delivered stand out performances on defense that caught the attention of Jokic.
“They’re big, tall, long. They’re really good defensive players. When you open the game like that, the easy ones don’t go.”
“Really good defensive [first] quarter by them, really bad offensive quarter by us” Jokic said according to ESPN.
Game 4 of the series takes place on Sunday, April 26.
