The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 112-96, with 43 points from Ayo Dosunmu, his best individual mark of his career and the highest score achieved by a substitute player in the playoffs in the last 50 years.
The Minnesota Timberwolves took a potentially giant step towards qualifying for the next phase of the NBA playoffs in the early hours of Sunday morning, defeating the Denver Nuggets 112-96 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Chris Finch’s men didn’t start the series well, losing the first game at Ball Arena in Colorado 116-105, but they managed to turn it around, and after four games, they now have a 1-3 lead. This means that if they can win the away game next Tuesday at 3:30 AM (Portugal Continental time), they will secure their place in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA.
The main architect of this result was Ayo Dosunmu, a 26-year-old player acquired from the Chicago Bulls last February, who stepped up following injuries to Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVicenzo, coming off the bench to score a whopping 43 points.
This was not only the best individual mark of the Nigerian-American point guard’s entire career, but also the highest achieved by a substitute in the playoffs since April 15, 1976, when Fred Brown scored 45 points in his Seattle Supersonics’ 111-116 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
On the other side, the most disgruntled players were Nikola Jokic (who recorded a double-double of 24 points, 15 rebounds, and nine assists) and Jamal Murray (who totaled 30 points, five rebounds, and five assists), who nevertheless couldn’t avoid another bitter experience.
“Ayo Dosunmu was simply out of this world.”
In the post-match press conference, Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch heaped praise on Ayo Dosunmu’s historic performance: “Ayo was simply out of this world, man. It was play after play after play…”
“He gets into space quickly, he’s an incredible finisher, he makes great passes… He’s fearless.”
