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This is what winning at all costs means. Dude would have ran a marathon on one shoe if there wasn’t a whistle. Anything for the win. And we saw the MVP as well going god mode, and doing everything humanly possible to will the Nuggets to a series comeback.
On his MVP presentation night, Nikola Jokic absolutely exploded for 40 points on 68.2% from the field, and when you see that half of these are against the 4 time DPOY in Rudy Gobert it adds much more significance to his performance. And we even saw a glimpse of Nikola the freak of nature Jokic.
It was a close game at halftime however, and Minnesota came out swinging early in the 3rd.
The Wolves went on a 11-3 run, and took over the lead. All this with their superstar nowhere to be found. Anthony Edwards was shooting 1-8 at this point, and I’m thinking to myself, he’s about to wake up for sure, so they’re in a good place, this game is going down to the wire.
But boi, how wrong was I?
After the timeout, Denver returned the favor immediately and went on a 11-2 run of their own, which started with this feisty play by Aaron Gordon, as he was looking like he’s never going to give up on this possession.
And from here, it was the MV3 who took over the game, as he scored 16 3rd quarter points, absolutely toying with the defense, and making some circus shots which left everyone speechless.
The Nuggets built a 14 point lead after 3, and were looking like they’re in total control of this game. With Nikola on the bench early in the 4th, the Timberwolves took a little breather, and were able to make a stop here and there. (MURRAY 11:02 & PORTER 10:00 4th)
And with this dunk by Naz Reid, they got it to 10 points, but here comes Nikola subbing into the game. Now, notice on these 2 possessions how Jokic attracts the defenders inside the paint, freeing up a ton of space for Caldwell Pope in the corner, and a shooter of his caliber is deadly when left wide open. And all hell breaks loose when..
The Joker had the entire building jumping with him on this fastbreak dunk. All of sudden, the Nuggets are up by 18. Man, this guy’s presence is undeniable.
Edwards did play better since halftime, but he couldn’t do much either as he was seeing a lot of double teams throughout the whole game, forcing him to make the pass, and the supporting crew of the Wolves was horrible shooting the ball in the 2nd half.
Meanwhile, as if it wasn’t enough already, Jokic delivers the exclamation point.
This was an epic performance by Nikola, one for the ages, as the Nuggets shocked everyone by winning 3 games in a row.
And in New York, MSG was absolutely rocking as the Knicks went on an 11-0 run to take control of the lead.
Thing is, the Knicks could fire away freely because even if they missed, Isaiah Hartenstein was going to get the offensive rebound.
In a mind blowing display of will to win, he finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. Unbelievable.
This is another display of the will to win, as Achuwa hustled up and down the court with the shoe in his hand, proving that every possession and every moment matters in the playoffs.
And of course, the top dog of this team Jalen Brunson delivered another iconic performance.
44 points on 51% from the field, but it was the second quarter where he absolutely went ballistic with 18 points
It’s funny that Indiana actually made things difficult for him. He had to work for a lot of these buckets. Double teams, half court presses you name it. But at the end he still had a fantastic game which to me was beyond impressive.
This is his 5th game with 40 or more points in the playoffs, and he’s got the highest point average this postseason with almost 34 per game.
But even with everything going the Knicks way, Indiana was still within striking distance down 15 at the break.
And MSG got worried as Myles Turner dropped 3 straight bombs in just 1 minute.
But as a Knicks fan I could not have imagined a better response, as they threw an avalanche on the Pacers, going on a wild 17-0 run in the third quarter blowing the roof off of the Garden.
This became a 25 point lead in the blink of an eye, as New York completely blitzed Indiana showing great energy despite playing a 7 man rotation.
And despite one last effort from the Pacers to cut into the deficit, the Knicks Brunson saved the best for last…
Wooow what a move by Jalen, to pretty much seal the deal for New York as they never looked back getting just a win away from the conference finals.
Despite having half their team injured, they are showing once again that they will fight to the end, no matter what.
We are seeing some incredible things taking place, but yesterday we saw something that wasn’t supposed to happen. You gotta check out exactly what happened right here. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.