It was a game that seemed unstoppable.

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-97 in Game 5 of the second round of the 2023-2024 NBA Playoffs on Friday (Feb. 15) at the Pepsi Bowl Arena in Denver.

Denver bounced back from dropping Games 1 and 2 at home. The Nuggets won three games in a row and are now one win away from the 현금홀덤사이트 Western Conference Finals.

Game 5 belonged to Nikola Jokic. He finished with 40 points and 13 assists and didn’t commit a single turnover in a 40-10 win. It was a flawless performance. A 40-10 record with zero turnovers hasn’t happened since Chris Paul.

He did everything he could do: 3-pointers off the dribble, flashy post moves, accurate mid-range jumpers, explosive dunks after inverted pick-and-rolls, and fast break offense. This game is a testament to how good Jokic is, as he is one of the best players in the game.

Surprisingly, Jokic’s opponent on this day was Minnesota, the best defensive team in the league. Minnesota tried their best to stop him, but it wasn’t enough. Minnesota ace Anthony Edwards laughed when asked about Jokic.

“I just laugh,” Edwards said. That’s all I can do. I can’t be mad at (Nikola) Jokic because he’s a good player. After Game 2, he’s looking like the best player in the NBA. He was special tonight and I have to praise him. I don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said of Jokic.

The person who might have been the most baffled by Game 5 was his matchup opponent, Rudy Gobert. A four-time Defensive Player of the Year, including this season, Gobert is nicknamed “The Eiffel Tower” and is one of the best walls in the game. However, in this matchup, he was unable to do much and fell apart. It’s not that Kobe couldn’t defend, but rather that Yokichi was too strong.

Kobe said after the game, “Yokichi made a couple shots that I thought I blocked and they went in. I was unbelievable in the third quarter. He was making all the plays and drawing fouls. There are some things we could have done better, but there were some plays that he made that were hard to stop,” he said tongue-in-cheek.

“But we know that Yokichi is an unbelievable player, hard to match, and he will continue to make amazing plays. But we have to keep fighting back and make it tough for him.”

Denver head coach Mike Malone also praised the ace after the game, saying, “He did everything for us, and it was fun to watch,” while Jamal Murray said, “When he makes plays like that, we don’t have to do anything different.”

Denver’s season seemed to be over in the second round, but the Nuggets rallied for three straight wins. Charles Barkley’s prediction of a “Minnesota sweep” after watching Games 1 and 2 is heading in the opposite direction. Denver’s answer was simply “yokichi.