Jaden McDaniels picked up two fouls just 2:16 into the first quarter and Minnesota lost Game 5 in Denver 125-113 on Monday night, turning a closeout opportunity into a must-win for Game 6 in Minneapolis on Thursday night.
The numbers made the margin plain. Minnesota finished with 25 turnovers. The Timberwolves trailed 34-29 after the first quarter and were down 60-51 at the half. Denver converted 14 first-half Minnesota turnovers into 12 points. Nikola Jokic, who had been 5 of 27 from three in the first four games of the series and was 0 for 2 from three before the play, hit a three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the second quarter after Denver led 53-49 with 1:57 remaining in that period.
The sequence around halftime carried the night. Minnesota entered Game 5 with a chance to close out the Nuggets in Denver, but the early foul on McDaniels — and an unsuccessful challenge by coach Chris Finch of that second foul call — left the team short on a key defender. From there the game tilted: costly turnovers piled up and Denver stretched a lead that Minnesota could not reel in.
Context explains why this result snaps a momentary script. Minnesota’s early series surge had been described as fueled by the absences of Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards — with Edwards sidelined by a hyperextended knee and a bone bruise and DiVincenzo out after a ruptured Achilles. Those absences opened a path to a potential closeout in Denver that the Wolves were unable to finish on Monday.
The tension in the game was a study in contrasts. Jokic’s long-range shot before the half mattered more because he had been 5 of 27 from deep through the first four games; an unlikely make flipped momentum. At the same time, Denver turned Minnesota’s carelessness with the ball into usable offense — 14 first-half turnovers became 12 points — and Minnesota’s 25 turnovers for the game left too much for the opponent to overcome.
Now the series moves to Minneapolis for Game 6 on Thursday night with the clear stakes that followed Monday’s defeat: Minnesota must protect the ball and keep McDaniels out of early foul trouble, or the effort to close the series at home will be a replay of the mistakes that cost them in Denver. Denver’s buzzer-beater by Jokic and Minnesota’s cumulative miscues have handed the Nuggets a lifeline; the onus is on the Wolves to answer it on their court.
