Timberwolves Surge Past Nuggets in West Standings With Statement Win

For all of their sometimes maddening struggles against inferior opponents, the Timberwolves have shown time and time again that they are capable of locking in and taking down some of the best teams in the NBA. They did just that on Sunday in Denver, riding a dominant second quarter to a statement 117-108 win over the Nuggets on national TV.

Anthony Edwards led the way with 21 points and 6 assists for Minnesota, but he was far from alone on a day where the Wolves’ entire eight-man rotation contributed in a big way. Jaden McDaniels dropped 20 points and was a game-high plus-20. Julius Randle had 14 points, 9 boards, and 7 assists in a bounce-back effort. Rudy Gobert scooped up 15 rebounds. Bones Hyland and Donte DiVincenzo combined for 35 points and 8 threes. Ayo Dosunmu got some buckets in transition, and Naz Reid scored 9 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Nikola Jokic did his thing for Denver with 35 points, 13 boards, and 9 dimes. The Nuggets won Jokic’s 37 minutes by four points and lost the 11 minutes he sat by 13. Jamal Murray needed 22 shots to score 25 points. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Christian Braun played well for Denver, but Cam Johnson was scoreless in 23 minutes and the Nuggets hit only six threes as a team (on 22 attempts).

With the win, the Timberwolves (38-23) move one game ahead of the Nuggets (37-24) in the Western Conference Standings. That’s big, because Denver went 3-1 against Minnesota this season and thus holds the tiebreaker between the two teams. The Wolves are now effectively tied with the Rockets for the No. 3 seed in the conference, though Houston will likely restore its half-game lead with a win over the lowly Wizards on Monday. Denver is down to the No. 5 spot for the moment.

The Nuggets came out strong in Sunday afternoon’s highly-anticipated rivalry game on ABC. They led 31-22 after the opening quarter behind 13 points and 4 assists from Jokic. But in the second quarter, the Wolves took off. They used an 11-0 run to tie the score, getting some huge buckets from Hyland against his former team. Not long after that, they put together a 12-0 run, punctuated by a Randle block that led to an Edwards three. In total, the Wolves won the period 36-19 to take an eight-point advantage into the halftime locker room.

From there, all Minnesota had to do was play things evenly. DiVincenzo hit four threes in the third quarter to counter some big punches from Jokic. And a spurt from Reid was key in the fourth quarter for the Wolves as they kept the Nuggets at arm’s length.

One key for Minnesota all game long was getting out and running in transition. The Wolves had 30 fastbreak points to just 6 for Denver.

This was, without question, one of the Wolves’ best wins of the season, both due to the opponent and the way all eight of their top guys came to play. This version of the Timberwolves is a legitimate NBA title contender.

After a 3-0 road trip, Minnesota begins a three-game homestand on Tuesday against the Grizzlies.