Timberwolves rally late to edge Denver and overcome collapse
A massive Denver run in the final frame had the Nuggets up 10 with fewer than five minutes to play. But Minnesota is a tough team to put away.
Minnesota looked dead in the water Friday night at Target Center.
A massive Denver run in the final frame had the Nuggets up 10 with fewer than five minutes to play. But Minnesota is a tough team to put away. Because it’s stacked with shot makers.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored seven-straight points, then Anthony Edwards poured in five of his own — the final two on a drive to the bucket to put the Wolves on top with 26 seconds left in a 119-116 victory over the Nuggets. Minnesota scored the final 10 points of the game.
It didn’t look like a win would require such dramatics earlier in the quarter. The Wolves led by 12 early in the final frame, only to have Denver go on a 25-3 run after Minnesota turned the ball over and failed to end possessions with defensive rebounds.
The exclamation point on the run was a thunderous dunk from Christian Braun over Rudy Gobert that resulted in a brief altercation.
The worst part of it all for Minnesota? Denver’s run came after Jamal Murray — the Nuggets’ second-best offensive player — left the game to enter concussion protocol. Denver’s offense still managed to sustain itself as Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic all scored with relative ease.
Friday would’ve qualified as a bad loss for Minnesota. But for as much as Minnesota is struggling defensively with its new-look roster, it seems to have an increased offensive punch. That came in handy late.
Edwards finished with 29 points, while Julius Randle had 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
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