Adelman knows the Nuggets need to maintain this level of intensity.
Denver's offense clicked like it hadn't all series, and head coach David Adelman noticed.
The Denver Nuggets avoided elimination on Monday night with a 125-113 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5, trimming the series deficit to 3-2.
It was their best offensive showing of the entire first round by a wide margin, and Adelman summed it up simply after the game.
"It was better than the first four games... the shot making obviously helped," Adelman said when asked about Denver's physicality on offense.
Denver Found It's Rythym
The Nuggets (54-28 in the regular season) looked nothing like the team that dropped three straight after winning Game 1.
Nikola Jokic went back to being the best player in the series with 27 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds, posting his 23rd career playoff triple-double and moving into third on the all-time list behind Magic Johnson and LeBron James.
He was aggressive from the opening tip, attacking the paint and setting screens that freed up teammates for better looks all night long.
Jamal Murray added 24 points and seven assists while playing some of his most engaged basketball of the postseason, and Spencer Jones turned in a breakout 20-point game on 7-of-9 shooting with four threes and three blocks.
Denver shot 57 percent from the field as a team and blew the game open in the third quarter by outscoring Minnesota 37-24 to build a 97-75 lead heading into the fourth.
The ball movement was sharper, the screens were harder and the Jokic-Murray combination that powered the league's top-ranked offense all year actually looked like itself again.
Murray averaged 25.4 points and 7.1 assists during the regular season as a first-time All-Star, and Monday felt like a throwback to that version of him.
Minnesota's Turnovers Told the Story
The Timberwolves (49-33) were without their starting backcourt of Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo, both injured in Game 4.
Julius Randle led Minnesota with 27 points and nine rebounds, but 25 turnovers that led to 35 Denver points were the real difference.
Ayo Dosunmu scored 18 after dropping 43 in Game 4, but the Wolves never had enough firepower to match Denver's intensity once the Nuggets got rolling in the second half.
What Game 6 Needs to Look Like
Denver still trails 3-2, and Adelman has said the margin for error with this team is thin.
Game 6 is Thursday night in Minneapolis, and the Nuggets will need this same physical approach in a hostile building.
Murray said after the win that they have to bring the same energy into Target Center and keep their composure with the crowd working against them.
Only five teams since 2015 have come back from 3-1 in a playoff series, and Denver pulled it off twice in the 2020 bubble.
The Nuggets have that pedigree.
But none of it transfers without another performance like Monday's. The shot making has to travel.