Jamal Murray leads Nuggets past Wolves 109-80 in Game 1

Jamal Murrayscored 24 points and dished out eight assists in his first playoffgame since the 2020 NBA bubble and the top-seeded Denver Nuggetsrouted the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-80 Sunday night.

Nikola Jokicadded 13 points, 14 rebounds and a half dozen assists in 28 minutesand Michael Porter Jr. scored 18 points as Denver snapped afive-game skid in playoff openers.

AnthonyEdwards led Minnesota with 18 points. Karl-Anthony Towns, who wasrounding into form this month after missing 52 games with a badcalf, missed 10 of his first 12 shots and finished with 11points.

TheTimberwolves hadn’t been held to so few points since Nov. 19,2016.

Jokic saidduring the Nuggets’ week off that he was eager to see how they’d dodo with Murray and Porter back in the lineup with him afterinjuries and surgeries waylaid Denver’s Big Three each of the lasttwo postseasons.

The answerwas emphatic: the trio combined for 55 points, 33 rebounds and 16assists — with just two combined turnovers — as all five ofDenver’s starters scored in double figures as did reserve BruceBrown, who chipped in 14.

The Nuggetswere the only one of four home teams to win Sunday as the Bucks,Grizzlies and Suns all surrendered homecourt advantage to lowerseeds in the first round.

The openermarked Murray’s first playoff appearance since his breakoutperformance in the 2020 NBA bubble, when he twice put up 50 pointson the Jazz in helping the Nuggets reach the Western ConferenceFinals where they lost to LeBron James and the Lakers. Murray torehis left ACL eight months later and missed the Nuggets’ last twoplayoff runs.

“It is kindof wild to think it’s been that long,” Denver coach Michael Malonesaid before tip-off. “I’m just so happy for him, proud of him. Ithas not been an easy journey for him, but I think this year, we’veseen Jamal have moments where that’s the Jamal Murray that we alllove and remember.

“I think he’sjust really excited to get back out there, play, and remind peopleof what he’s capable of. We know how important he is to us. I’mjust very, very thankful that, we as a team, are healthy going intothe postseason.”

That includesPorter, who sat out a year ago following back surgery.

TheTimberwolves were without starting forward Jaden McDaniels, theirbest perimeter defender, who broke his right hand punching a wallin Minnesota’s final regular season game.

SPICYNUGGETS

Malone saidbefore tip-off he expected some chippiness in the series: “I don’tmind spicy. This is the playoffs. This isn’t like regular seasongames.”

He got justthat in the third quarter when rookie Christian Braun got into atussle with Kyle Anderson after Anderson’s flagrant foul. Asteammates rushed into the fray, Murray pointed to the scoreboard,which read: Nuggets 83, Timberwolves 58.

HIGHPRAISE

It’s nosurprise Timberwolves basketball boss Tim Connelly spoke soglowingly about the Nuggets, whose nucleus he helped assemblebefore being lured away by the T-Wolves 11 months ago.

“MichaelMalone is a fantastic head coach. The staff is full of future headcoaches,” Connelly said at the morning shootaround. “Obviously,Nikola, best player in the world. ... From A-to-Z, a first-classorganization, great ownership.”

Connellyshared intel on Jokic and his teammates with Timberwolves coachChris Finch, who said, “his background on this — very, veryhelpful.”

TIP-INS

Timberwolves:Minnesota surrendered the first eight points of the game and thefirst nine points after halftime. The Wolves fought back to take a17-16 lead in the first quarter but there was no similar comebackin the third.

Nuggets:Denver outscored Minnesota 32-14 in the third quarter to build an87-58 lead. ... Jokic was sent back into the game with the Nuggetsahead by 30 with 7:46 left in the fourth and picked up a flagrantfoul, his fifth, at the 6:50 mark when he elbowed Anthony Edwardsin the face. He fouled out 13 seconds later.

UP NEXT

Game 2 isWednesday night in Denver.