MINNEAPOLIS — Ayo Dosunmu scored a career-high 43 points, stepping up after leg injuries to Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo with the highest-scoring playoff performance by a reserve in 50 years, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 112-96 on Saturday night.

The Timberwolves took a 3-1 lead in the series in a game that ended with the ejections of Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Minnesota’s Julius Randle after Jokic became angry when Jaden McDaniels made a meaningless layup with 2.1 seconds remaining and confronted the Wolves’ swingman near his bench.

The story before that was Dosunmu, who had the best performance by a sub since Fred Brown scored 45 off the bench for Seattle in a 116-111 loss to Phoenix on April 15, 1976.

Nikola Jokic was ejected during the Nuggets’ 112-96 Game loss to the Timberwolves on April 25, 2026 in Minneapolis.…