Nikola Jokic had 27 points, but the Timberwolves clamped him to his worst NBA Playoff career game shooting (27%) in Game 3.
The Denver Nuggets are in serious trouble in the opening round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
After suffering from one of the biggest choke jobs in NBA playoff history in Game 2, the Nuggets find themselves trailing 2-1 now in this series against the Minnesota Timberwolves after a devastating 113-96 loss in Game 3 on Thursday night.
Nikola Jokic was the only one who showed up for the Nuggets with 27 points, 15 rebounds and three assists. But the fact that he shot 7-of-26 from the field simply tells how the Timberwolves completely contained him.
Upon the defensive masterclass imposed by Minnesota in Game 3, the Serbian superstar subsequently tallied the worst shooting night of his NBA Playoff career ever for Denver.
The massive credit certainly belongs to Rudy Gobert for locking down Jokic away. But as a team, the Timberwolves deserve praise for playing a great collective defense to clamp not just the three-time MVP.
Throughout 48 minutes of the wire-to-wire Minnesota victory, Denver particularly shot an awful 34.1 percent from the field as a team (28-of-82) and was bricking their shots from beyond the arc with an atrocious 25 percent three-point rate (8-of-32).
Star guard Jamal Murray was held down to just 16 points, registering a brutal 5-of-17 marks from the field and missing all five of his threes.
After this all-time playoff low for them, anticipation is off the charts on how Jokic and the Nuggets can respond heading to Saturday’s must-win Game 4.
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