DENVER — Nikola Jokic playfully tossed a basketball to Phoenix Suns governor Mat Ishbia sitting courtside ahead of Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Then, the two-time Kia MVP hurled haymakers at the new owner’s squad in a 118-102 Denver victory powered by the Nuggets big man logging his 10th career postseason triple-double to pass Wilt Chamberlain for the most in NBA history by a center. The Nuggets improved to 30-3 this season when Jokic produces a triple-double.

“I think we were the aggressors,” Jokic said. “The two games in Phoenix, they were the ones who were pushing [us] all over the place, moving spots, digging into us. They were more aggressive. Today, I think we were aggressive.”

Leaving the court after finishing up a pregame warmup, Jokic spotted Ishbia (a former Michigan State basketball player) sitting next to Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker courtside and walked up to their seats. Jokic held out a basketball, before flipping it to Ishbia as both men smiled. The competitors ended the encounter with a handshake and a hug.

The home-court hospitality belied the physicality the 28-year-old would soon unleash on the visiting Suns. Coming off a Game 4 performance in which he reeled off a playoff career-high 53 points and 11 assists, Jokic tied Larry Bird, Rajon Rondo and Draymond Green for fifth all-time in playoff triple-doubles.

Jokic inflicted the bulk of his damage in the third quarter, scoring 17 of his game-high 29 points on 7-for-8 shooting with three rebounds, three assists, a steal and two blocked shots as Denver shot 70% and outscored Phoenix 39-25.

“I just felt like we played with great pace in the last two games, and they nullified that with physicality,” Phoenix coach Monty Williams said. “It started in the first, and then in the third, they were up into us even more. We didn’t handle it as well as we could.”

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s Game 5 at Ball Arena:

1. Transitioning to better transition D

Everybody expected Denver to emphasize improving its transition defense in Game 5, and Nuggets coach Michael Malone left no confusion where he stood on the subject before tipoff. Over the first four games of this series, the Nuggets surrendered an average of 19.3 points in transition, which ranked last among the eight remaining playoff teams. Meanwhile, Phoenix led the league in fast-break points, nearly three points better than the No. 2 Boston Celtics.

In Games 3 and 4, the Suns scorched Denver for an average 21.5 points in transition. But Denver would turn the tables in Game 5 by setting a postseason high with 31 fast-break points, compared to 25 for Phoenix. The performance marked the third time all season the Nuggets scored more than 30 fast-break points.

Denver was minus-29 in fast-break points over the first four games.

“If we can’t eliminate the transition, we’re not going to win this series — point blank,” Malone said.

In watching film of Denver’s last two contests, Malone noticed his squad needed to “be a lot more disciplined with the crash rate” as players routinely crashed the glass from the top of the key when they shouldn’t have. Perhaps more frustrating for Malone was watching Denver jog back on defense, while Devin Booker and Cameron Payne sprinted furiously through Nuggets defenders attacking the basket. Malone mentioned that in transition defense “your first two steps have to be a sprint.”

“And there are clips where when you look at it, and I’ve watched them over and over and over again, [and] it’s like watching a horror movie,” Malone said. “We are jogging and they are sprinting. When you’re in a game where it’s going to come down to a possession or two, those are crucial.”

2. Porter Jr. joins the party

Malone spoke about the need to “bring somebody else to the party” ahead of Game 5, pointing to the examples set by Landry Shamet in becoming a legit third option in Phoenix’s Game 4 win. In the Lakers-Warriors series, L.A. reserve swingman Lonnie Walker IV scored all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter of Monday’s Game 4 as the Lakers took a 3-1 lead in that West semifinals series.

“Landry stepped up and made big play after big play [in Game 4 with] five 3s, and that was a difference maker,” Malone said. “I’m sure you guys were all watching the Golden State-Laker game last night. Lonnie Walker was a difference maker.”

Michael Porter Jr. emerged from the first half of Tuesday’s game carrying that designation. The 24-year-old hit Denver’s first bucket on the way to flexing strong deep-ball marksmanship over the first two quarters, hitting 6-for-9 from the field and 4-for-6 from 3-point rang for 16 first-half points. Porter connected on his first two buckets from deep in the first quarter, and eventually tallied eight defensive rebounds and a steal, pouring in 14 of his 19 points on the night in the opening frame.

Porter averaged 12 points over the first four games of the series. So, a solid showing in Game 5 made for a welcome surprise for a Denver squad searching for more production from players not named Jokic and Jamal Murray. Porter tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds in Game 4 to go with a career-high tying four assists for his sixth career postseason double-double, but Denver needed more scoring in Game 5 from the fourth-year veteran.

He delivered.

3. Brown powers Denver bench

Phoenix’s bench outscored Denver’s backups 65-31 in Games 3 and 4, after the Nuggets had won that battle, 36-28, in Games 1 and 2. But in Game 5, Denver poured in a postseason-high 34 bench points, just one contest removed from the Suns reserves outscoring the Nuggets backups 40-11.

Credit Bruce Brown for Denver’s reversal of fortunes in bench play for Game 5. He blistered Phoenix for a career-high 25 points off the bench playing in his 156th career game as a reserve. The veteran scored just 16 points total in Games 3 and 4.

Denver’s bench outpaced the Suns’ backups 34-26.

Brown’s performance marked the 12th time in Denver franchise history and the second time since 2013 that a Nuggets backup scored 25 points or more off the bench in the playoffs.

“I just played my game, got out in transition which gets me going,” Brown said.

4. Suns’ star duo slowed

Booker and Kevin Durant scored 601 points between them over their first nine games of this postseason, which easily tops the list for the highest combined points for a duo playing in its first postseason together. Then they hit a roadblock in Game 5 against a Denver defense committed to finally shutting them down.

The Nuggets limited Booker and Durant to a combined 54 points on 18-for-43 shooting with seven turnovers.

Booker shot 8-for-19, his lowest field goal percentage of this postseason, while Durant finished 10-for-24, including 0-for-3 from 3-point range.

Phoenix owns a record of 0-3 this postseason in games that neither Booker or Durant scores 30 points or more.

5. Murray bounces back

Murray struggled through the first three quarters, shooting 3-for-10 for nine points, before catching fire in the final frame of this blowout. Murray drilled 4-for-5 from the field and knocked down both of his 3-point attempts in scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter with an assist and no turnovers after committing two giveaways earlier in the night.

Murray produced his 10th career postseason outing with 19 points or more to go with five-plus rebounds and six-plus dimes. Denver owns a record of 8-2 in that scenario. Murray has also dished six-plus assists in six games this postseason.

“I struggled early in the game, and I am not going to force it,” Murray said. “I have teammates, I have a very unselfish group of guys behind me that are going to lift me up, lift all of us up. Everybody man, it was a team effort. You aren’t going to play perfect. You are going to struggle. They are going to go on runs. But I felt like we handled it. The night was huge for us.”

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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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