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The Denver Nuggets rediscovered both their offensive identity and their defensive intensity just in time to save their season.

Nikola Jokic snapped out of his prolonged funk with a triple-double, Spencer Jones provided a spark while subbing for injured Aaron Gordon, and the Nuggets staved off elimination with a chippy 125-113 win over the injury-riddled Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of their playoff series Monday night.

“I think we're a multidimensional team that can win a variety of ways,” said Jones, who scored 20 points and keyed a third-quarter spurt that gave Denver its big cushion.

The Timberwolves, who trailed by 27, were without their starting backcourt of 

 (hyperextended knee) and Donte DiVincenzo (ruptured Achilles), both of whom got hurt in Game 4, and they briefly lost center Naz Reid to a rolled right ankle late in the third quarter Monday night.

DiVincenzo underwent surgery Sunday, and Edwards is out indefinitely — but an MRI confirmed the absence of structural damage, meaning he could return to action if the Timberwolves advance.

Game 4 star Ayo Dosunmu added 18 points for Minnesota, but Rudy Gobert was finally neutralized. He scored his only bucket with 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter with the Wolves trailing by 25.

Jokic had 27 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds for Denver, which trimmed its deficit to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Jamal Murray scored 24 points as the Nuggets, who led the NBA in scoring, enjoyed a breakout after being held under 100 points twice in Minneapolis.

Jokic posted his 23rd playoff triple-double, third on the career list, as the Nuggets stopped a three-game skid and played the way they did most of the regular season in securing the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

“They’re a championship team. They have championship DNA," said Julius Randle, who led Minnesota with 27 points. "They’re going to come out and have a sense of pride on their home court. They did that tonight. So, credit to them. We get to go back to Minnesota and have a chance to close it out.”

The Nuggets need to win the next two games to become just the 14th of 299 teams facing a 3-1 deficit to come back to win an NBA playoff series. Denver was the last team to accomplish the feat, doing it twice in the bubble in 2020, against the Jazz and Lakers.

The Wolves started out sloppy with nine first-quarter turnovers and finished with 25. Jokic swished a 29-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Denver a 60-51 halftime lead.

“It’s just a good win and then you move on,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “Tomorrow we’ll sit down and talk with the guys, get them right, give us a chance to go through things on Wednesday and try to win on Thursday.”

Jones, who scored 11 points in the first four games of the series, had 11 in a six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets pulled away. He sank a trio of 3-pointers and added a breakaway dunk after learning just before tipoff that he'd start in place of Gordon (calf).

Jaden McDaniels, whose layup in the final seconds of Game 4 drew the wrath of Jokic and led to a dustup that resulted in ejections and fines and only added more fuel to an already-heated playoff rivalry, got into early foul trouble and scored 13 points. He was razzed by the Ball Arena crowd every time he touched the ball.

“We just ended up losing the day,” McDaniels said, “but we’re going to win the next one.”

McDaniels embraces the villain role after Game 5 brings boos

 fans as he heard constant boos from the crowd all evening.

All it did was embolden McDaniels, the Timberwolves forward who's worked his way under the skin of Nuggets Nation through his words and his actions.

 Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series on Monday night, McDaniels insisted he wouldn’t be back in Denver anytime soon.

“We just ended up losing the day, but we’re going to win the next one,” said McDaniels, whose team leads the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Thursday night in Minnesota.

” after Minnesota won Game 2. Denver didn't have much of a response in the lead-up to Game 3 — or during the game itself.

On Saturday, McDaniels again drew the ire of the Nuggets — more specifically, Jokic — after scoring on a layup in the final seconds of the game. Jokic raced down the court and confronted him as players gathered around. The dustup resulted in e 

This time, the Nuggets had a response. So did the Ball Arena crowd, which booed McDaniels each time he touched the ball.

"I love this environment, everyone hating me,” McDaniels said. “I feed into it. It just brings the best out of me.”

McDaniels finished with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting in just more than 27 minutes of action. He also had four of the Timberwolves' 25 turnovers. The miscues may be understandable, though, as the team works on playing without Donte DiVincenzo (ruptured right Achilles tendon) and 

“It’s really just the gravity they carry,” McDaniels said. “I feel like we still did a good job.”

At times, the game got a little chippy — and he was sometimes at the center of it. Such as in the fourth quarter with some pushing and words with Jonas Valanciunas.

There was also Christian Braun hanging on the rim after a dunk and pointing in the direction of McDaniels. That drew Braun a technical and revved up the crowd.

“It's all fun to me. I don’t really care. I feed into it,” McDaniels said. “We've just got to get the job done next game, and then there’s no more talking.”

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Nikola Jokic snapped out of his prolonged funk with a triple-double, Spencer Jones provided a key spark and the Denver Nuggets staved off elimination with a chippy 125-113 win over the injury-riddled Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of their playoff series. 

Timberwolves fall to the Denver Nuggets 125-113 in Game 5 of the playoff series

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