Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves are nonetheless standing.
The Timberwolves, regardless of falling right into a 19-point hole early at Ball Arena on Monday evening, rallied again to knock off the Denver Nuggets 119-114. That evened up their opening-round playoff series, which has simply been probably the most aggressive throughout the league to this point this postseason, because it heads to Minneapolis for the primary time later this week.
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It additionally ensured that the Timberwolves had a professional shot to advance into the following spherical. The franchise, which has been to the Western Conference finals in back-to-back seasons now, has by no means efficiently climbed out of an 0-2 series hole.
“It’s 1-1, there’s no driver’s seat,” Edwards mentioned on NBC. “We’re going home. We’ve got an advantage at home. Hopefully our fans rattle them a little bit when they come to our crib. We’ll be ready.”
TWolves rally after tough begin
The Nuggets virtually ended issues within the first quarter.
Denver opened the evening on a 44-25 tear and easily overpowered Minnesota on each side of the ball. The Timberwolves simply seemed out of it.
But, of course, that didn’t maintain. The Timberwolves began clawing again and will have held the lead at halftime if Murray didn’t somehow sink an absolutely wild shot from the far facet of the emblem to shut out the second interval.
Nikola Jokić, who was gradual offensively within the first 24 minutes, took off within the third quarter and saved the Nuggets in it because the battle ensued. He dropped 14 factors in that interval alone, but the Timberwolves simply by no means went away.
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They finally took the lead again late within the fourth quarter, thanks to a dunk from Jaden McDaniels and a fastbreak layup from Donte DiVincenzo — each of which got here after missed buckets from Jokić within the paint.
That was a brutal pattern for the Nuggets, who managed only one made area purpose over an almost five-minute span earlier than Aaron Gordon drilled a 3-pointer with 78 seconds on the clock. That introduced Denver again inside one. Jokić threw down a dunk over Rudy Gobert to preserve them in it later, too.
While Murray had a take a look at a bucket to ship the sport into additional time, he was off the mark and allowed DiVincenzo one final simple dunk for good measure to seal the five-point win.
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Murray led the Nuggets with 30 factors, seven assists and 7 rebounds within the loss. It marked his second straight 30-point evening, and the twenty first 30-point playoff outing of his profession. Jokić completed with 24 factors, 15 rebounds and eight assists. The duo went simply 2-of-13 from the sector within the ultimate 12 minutes, nevertheless, which left the door large open for the Timberwolves.
Anthony Edwards had 30 factors and 10 rebounds of his personal to lead the Timberwolves. Julius Randle added 24 factors and 9 rebounds, and DiVincenzo completed with 16 factors.
Had Denver efficiently ran away with the competition and picked up a blowout win on Monday evening, it very simply might have ended the series. But now, thanks to an enormous end from the Timberwolves, it’s nonetheless very a lot up for grabs coming into the Target Center on Thursday evening.