Nuggets reclaim No. 1 seed from Minnesota behind unstoppable Jokic

Denver has taken control of the Western Conference thanks to a dominant fourth quarter that boosted them over Minnesota 116-107 Wednesday night in Denver.

Minnesota led 52-49 at the half and then Anthony Edwards and Nikola Jokic dueled in the third quarter, with both superstars scoring 15 points in the quarter. But while Edwards started the quarter hot, Jokic finished hot with 13 of Denver's final 16 points and the Nuggets led 83-80 after three.

That momentum carried over to the fourth as Denver opened up a 16-point lead fueled by back-to-back-to-back dunks, two by Christian Braun and one by Payton Watson. Watson's dunk prompted a timeout by head coach Chris Finch to wave the white flag and his starters out of the game.

Oklahoma City beat the Spurs by 38 points to keep pace in the fight for the top three seeds in the West. The Thunder are 55-25, the Wolves are 55-25 and the Nuggets are one game ahead at 56-24.

All three contenders finish the regular season with games Friday and Sunday. Denver is on the road against the Spurs and Grizzlies; the Wolves play the Hawks and Suns in Minneapolis; and the Thunder play at home against the Bucks and Mavericks.

The Timberwolves appeared to run out of gas in the fourth quarter. They were playing at altitude on the second night of a back to back. so a fourth quarter meltdown against the defending champs wasn't outside of the realm of possibilities before the game started.

Edwards led Minnesota with 25 points and Jokic was unstoppable, finishing with 41 points on 16-of-20 shooting. The two-time reigning MVP also had 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.