Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets now have a very clear path to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
The Nuggets cruised past the Minnesota Timberwolves late on Wednesday night at Ball Arena in Denver, winning 116-107. The win broke the tie between the two franchises in the Western Conference standings and gave the Nuggets the right to claim the top seed in next week's playoffs.
Both teams were locked in a battle throughout the night. It wasn't until Jokic and the Nuggets went on a 13-3 run midway through the fourth quarter that they were finally able to build a double-digit lead. In that stretch, they held the Timberwolves scoreless for nearly three minutes.
From there, the Nuggets hung on for the rest of the game and won by nine points. Christian Braun sealed the deal with a wild left-handed dunk over Rudy Gobert in the final stretch.
Jokic made 16 of 20 field goals for the Nuggets and finished with 41 points and 11 rebounds in the win. Jamal Murray had 20 points and Michael Porter Jr. had 18 points and eight rebounds.
The Nuggets close out the regular season with road trips against the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies. With the West leading by one game, the road to the top seed is straight forward. If they win, it's theirs. If they lose one of those two games, both the Timberwolves and Thunder will need at least one loss to win the championship.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are also in that position, tied with the Timberwolves at 55-25 this season. However, they will finish the season with home games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks, the toughest schedule of the three West Division-leading teams.
If the Nuggets can win it, they will earn the No. 1 seed in the West for the second straight season. After pulling it off last season, the Nuggets stormed through the playoffs and won their first championship. They had an overwhelming record of 10 wins and 1 loss at home in last year's postseason, and 33 wins and 8 losses in this year's regular season.
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 25 points, and Mike Conley finished with 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting from behind the arc. The Timberwolves are also still without star player Karl-Anthony Towns. He underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus last month, but was cleared to return to full-contact basketball activities on Tuesday. He played in one of the remaining two games of the regular season and is expected to be available for the playoffs as well. His return to the court will be significant for the Timberwolves, who haven't won a playoff series in 20 years.
It's obviously going to take a lot of time to get there, but Wednesday's game was a great preview of how fun the series between the Nuggets and Timberwolves for a spot in the NBA Finals will be.
