The Dominican was one of Nikola Jokic’s main defenders and could barely play 31 minutes
Being the best team of the regular season, the Minnesota Timberwolves had to prove it against a powerful Denver Nuggets in order to advance in the NBA postseason. Game one of the Western Conference semifinal series was proof of that.
A masterful Anthony Edwards scored 43 points and Karl-Anthony Towns He contributed 20 to lead the Timberwolves to a 106-99 victory over the Nuggets at Denver’s Ball Arena and thus steal home court in the first game of the series.
‘Ant’ was the star of the night but the contribution made by the Dominican cannot be overlooked. In addition to scoring a pair of triples, capturing four rebounds and contributing three assists, Towns was key in the defensive scheme that the Timberwolves adopted when trying to contain Nikola Jokic.
When ‘KAT’ was the main defender on the Serbian, Jokic only scored 4 of 12 attempts at the rim and in the process the Minnesota player caused him to lose four balls. In general, the DFG% of the Dominican was 33%, allowing only 6 of 18 attempts from the court in his defense. If there is something to improve, it should be to reduce his personal faults to a minimum.
It was already known from what happened during the regular season (although only KAT saw a game against the Nuggets) and in the last postseason that the towers Towns and Gobert can cause problems for Jokic, while the work done by the Best Sixth Man of the season, Naz Reid.
That is why Jokic joked at a press conference when asked how he could make an impact against the defensive rotation made by Towns, Gobert and Reid: “Having a duplicate clone of myself.”
Looking at game one, the plan will continue to be for Towns to focus on Jokic, even if this could get him into foul trouble. KAT only played 31 minutes having committed five personal fouls. Gobert will allow some freedom to Aaron Gordon on the perimeter and will be around to provide any help on Jokic.
The task will not be easy but Michael Malone will have to find a way to try to get the best version of Jokic although for the moment, as stated after the defeat, his objective challenge will be to try to stop Anthony Edwards.
The second game of the series between Timberwolves and Nuggets will be on Monday, May 6, at 10 p.m. Eastern time in the United States.
The NBA Playoffs are experienced in Latin America through ESPN and Star+.
