Nikola Jokić, Nuggets fend of Timberwolves late in critical battle for No. 1 seed in Western Conference playoffs

Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets now have a very clear path to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

The Nuggets flew past the Minnesota Timberwolves late to grab a 116-107 win at Ball Arena on Wednesday night in Denver. The win broke a tie between the two franchises in the Western Conference standings, and gives the Nuggets the edge for the top seed in the playoffs next week.

The two teams were locked in a battle for much of the night. It wasn’t until Jokic and the Nuggets finally erupted on a 13-3 run midway through the fourth quarter that they were finally able to mount a double-digit lead. They held the Timberwolves scoreless for nearly three minutes over that stretch, too.

From there, the Nuggets simply held on the rest of the way to grab the nine-point win. Christian Braun even threw down a wild left-handed dunk over Rudy Gobert in the final stretch to seal the deal.

Jokić finished with 41 points and 11 rebounds in the win while shooting 16-of-20 from the field for the Nuggets. Jamal Murray added 20 points, and Michael Porter Jr. finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.

The Nuggets will close out the regular season on the road against both the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies. With a one-game lead in the West, their path to the top seed is straight forward. If they win out, it’s theirs. If they lose one of those two games, they’ll need at least one loss from both the Timberwolves and Thunder to clinch it.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are now tied with the Timberwolves at 55-25 on the season, too, and are right in the mix. They will end their season at home against the Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks, however, which is by far the hardest schedule among the three teams at the top in the West.

If the Nuggets can clinch it, it will mark their second straight season earning the No. 1 seed in the West. Last season, after pulling that off, the Nuggets flew through the playoffs to win their first ever championship. They were 10-1 at home in the postseason last year, and are a dominant 33-8 at home in the regular season this year.

Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 25 points, and Mike Conley finished with 19 points after going 5-of-9 from behind the arc. The Timberwolves are still without star Karl-Anthony Towns, too. He underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus last month, but he was cleared to return to full-contact basketball activities on Tuesday. He’s expected to play in one of their remaining two regular season games and be available for the playoffs. His return to the court should be huge for the Timberwolves, who haven’t won a playoff series in two decades.

While it will obviously take a lot to get there, Wednesday’s game was a great preview of how fun a series between the Nuggets and the Timberwolves with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line would truly be.