Spencer Jones broke a tooth to get here. Now, he saved Denver’s season.

DENVER — Spencer Jones has some ideas circulating in his head about what to post — a relatable story for anyone in their 20s.

A LinkedIn update, maybe — he always seems to have those.

But this 24-year-old just did something most never do: energize a team, reignite hope in a city. And the funny part is, nobody — probably not even Jones — saw this as a possibility.

After 20 points in a win-or-go-home postseason game, Jones took to a podium nobody expected him to be sitting at when the Denver Nuggets’ season tipped.

“We’ll see. I got some ideas circulating my head, but I got two days before the next game, so I got some time,” Jones said with a grin late Monday night. “You guys can wait on your heels for that one.”

Thursday. That’s when the Nuggets tip back off for Game 6 in Minnesota, trying to do what NBA history says is nearly impossible — coming back from down 3-1 to advance past the Timberwolves. They’re still alive because of Nikola Jokic’s 27-point, 12-rebound, 16-assist return to dominance. They’re still alive because Jamal Murray did a bit of everything and Cam Johnson rediscovered his aggression. They’re still alive because Jonas Valanciunas physically rearranged two quarters.

But mostly, on this night, they’re still alive because of a kid who broke his teammate’s tooth on the first day of training camp.

To understand how Jones ended up logging nearly 37 minutes in an elimination game — guarding Julius Randle, draining four of his five shots from 3-point range, posting three steals and three blocks — you have to rewind to October. The Nuggets had a new head coach, a thin roster and a two-way wing nobody outside the organization had given much thought to.

Jones came in swinging. Literally.

“First day of training camp, I broke Juice’s tooth, Julian’s tooth and stuff like that,” Jones said, referring to Julian Strawther, and his teeth that pop out a bunch. “And then, yeah, literally hacking the whole time, trying to pick up the full court.”

Valanciunas, who arrived the same day, witnessed it firsthand.

“That was disgusting. You know, seeing the open elbow,” Valanciunas said. “No days off, no nights off, no games off, just going out there and playing physical, playing his best basketball. That’s what we can expect from the young guys.”

It was a calculated bet by Jones, a Stanford product who understood the math of his situation. The Nuggets had Jokic. They had Murray. They had others who provided plenty of offense. So that wasn’t the door he was going to kick down.

“We got so many offensively talented guys. It would have been much harder to try to get on the floor that way,” Jones said about defense. “So I knew this was the opening.”

Cam Johnson watched it happen in real time and recognized it immediately for what it was.

“He came in with a clear idea of what it would take for him to carve out a role for himself, and he knew that was going to be with effort and intensity, especially on defensive end and knocking down shots when they come his way,” Johnson said. “He’s done a great job with that all season, and he’s reaped rewards.”

The reward, on Monday, looked like this: a starting nod with Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson out, the Julius Randle assignment and a third quarter that doubled as a Ball Arena explosion.

Jones drilled a transition triple to push the lead to 12. He hit another to push it to 15. He buried a fourth to take it to 17. He threw down a dunk on the break from a Johnson assist that pushed the Nuggets up 19 and turned Ball Arena into the loudest it has been all series. By the time the third quarter ended, Jones had 20 points, the Nuggets led by 22, and Denver was going to live to see Game 6.

He became just the fifth Nugget — joining Jokic, Murray, Porter and Gordon — to hit four or more 3-pointers in a playoff game over the last two seasons and the 16th Denver player to notch 20 points in a playoff game since Jokic came over from Serbia.

“Definitely he stayed ready, you know, his minutes were up and down and then injuries and all the stuff, but he seems he’s always ready,” Jokic said. “Last game he didn’t, did he score? I don’t think so. Right. But like I think his impact was really big and today he made 20 points.”

Jones ended Game 5 as the third player in NBA history to notch a line of 20 points, three steals, three blocks on 7-for-9 shooting, joining Shawn Marion and Hakeem Olajuwon.

“I just thought he was ready to play like he always is. The shot making obviously helped,” Adelman said. “Some guys want opportunities, other guys take them and run with them. He’s done that the whole season.”

The numbers were historic. The matchup that produced them was even tougher.

Jones had to go toe-to-toe with Randle, who still finished with 27 points. He’s a three-time all-star, after all.

“Defense was where I was going to find my role,” Jones said. “Knowing that I built myself to be good enough for them to trust me on their premier guys, that’s a huge accomplishment, only being in my second year in the league.”

That’s the part that traces back to the broken tooth. To the hacking. To the preseason fouls and the regular-season cleanup work. The trust didn’t appear Monday night. It was deposited through a bunch of injuries and opportunities in the regular season where he earned the trust of Adelman and his teammates. And it played out when everyone’s backs were against the wall.

“A lot of times the focus is always on Jok and Jamal,” Jones said. “For them to trust to swing it when they get double-teamed instead of possibly taking a contested shot that we both know they can make at a pretty high level — that’s the trust right there. A lot of my shots come from their passes. The belief is there.”

The Nuggets are still down 3-2. They still have to win in Minnesota on Thursday. They still might not come back to Ball Arena at all this season.

Johnson said it plainly: “We’re still facing elimination. So we got to bring it every game from here on out.”

But for one night, the youngster who came to camp to break teeth and hack ballhandlers — who signed his standard contract after the All-Star break — was the reason the season didn’t end.

“Coming into the season two-way, the goal was get a standard contract,” Jones said. “Then you have the standard contract and the next goal was, yes, let’s try to get in the playoff rotation now that you have that availability. So that was something in my mind.”

Mission accomplished. And the Nuggets accomplished theirs. Do it two more times and Denver becomes the first franchise in NBA history to erase three 3-1 deficits.

Related

ESPN gives Nuggets solid grade for DeMar DeRozan signingNuggets sign six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozanJokic continues dominance of Wemby as Serbia edges France in exhibition thrillerNikola Jokic on Peyton Watson trade: ‘It’s gonna be okay’ESPN gives Nuggets near failing grade for Peyton Watson tradeNuggets cheap out, ship Peyton Watson to Cleveland