DENVER – Nearly 10 months have passed since one of the greatest nights in Timberwolves franchise history – their Game 7 victory in the second round of last season’s playoffs against the Nuggets.
Their roster has changed since that night, but the confidence with which they play against Denver and in Ball Arena has not. The Wolves beat the Nuggets 115-95 on Wednesday and defeated Denver for the third time in three matchups this season. Wednesday was a wire-to-wire victory for the Wolves, who led by double digits most of the second half and pushed that lead over 20 early in the fourth quarter. They have now won six straight.
It helped the Wolves that the Nuggets were missing power forward Aaron Gordon, who might have helped provide some resistance and rebounding on the defensive end of the floor.
Julius Randle continued his strong play of late with 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting while the Wolves defense did a good job limiting some of the fire-starters for Denver in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. They turned Nikola Jokic into a scorer most of the night, and he had 34 points.
The Wolves led by 14 at the end of three quarters but blew it open in the fourth and had the crowd racing for the exits with over five minutes left, when Denver coach Michael Malone waved the white flag and emptied his bench. Anthony Edwards led the Wolves with 29 points.
Wolves grab early lead
The Wolves opened the night up 11-2 as Denver shot 1-for-6 with two turnovers to open the game. The Wolves capped that run with an Edwards-to-Jaden McDaniels alley oop in transition, prompting Malone to call timeout 3 minutes, 33 seconds into the game.
Edwards began the night 1-for-6, 0-for-3 from three-point range. He then scored on a dunk and a layup as part of a 9-3 Wolves run to push their lead to 23-13. Despite 15 points from Jokic, and five offensive rebounds by Denver, the Wolves led 34-26 after one quarter. Randle had nine for the Wolves at the end of the first while Donte DiVincenzo hit a pair of threes for six points. The Wolves scored 11 points off five Denver turnovers in the first quarter.
Shutting down Murray and Porter Jr.
With Jokic off the floor to start the second quarter, the Wolves extended their lead to as many as 14 points. But after going up 43-29 at the 8:41 mark, the Wolves went scoreless over the next 3:02, and Denver pulled within four until an Edwards three ended the scoring drought. The Wolves were content to guard Jokic one-on-one, mostly with Rudy Gobert, in an attempt to take away his superpower as a passer. He had only four assists.
