Nuggets beat Timberwolves 112-97

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver gave Denver center Nikola Jokic his third MVP award prior to Game 5. As the Wolves watched from their end of the floor, his teammates surrounded him at midcourt.

For the remainder of the game, Jokic effectively turned the Wolves into spectators to an extraordinary display, as Denver trounced the Wolves 112-97 in Game 5 to grab a 3-2 series lead. For the first time this season, the Wolves have dropped three straight games, and on Thursday night at Target Center, they will face elimination. In his 40-point, 13-assist, seven-rebound effort on Tuesday, Jokic demonstrated the difference that still exists between a team captained by Anthony Edwards, 22, and a 29-year-old who owns all three MVP medals and a championship ring. Edwards, the guard for the Wolves and an All-Star, has had several years of postseason disappointment of his own and is still working to get to the heights Jokic has in the NBA.