DENVER – On April 11, 2018 the Timberwolves won the battle against the Nuggets when they beat Denver on the final day of the season to make the playoffs, but the Nuggets won the ensuing war.
The Wolves went into a tailspin as a franchise and the Nuggets began ascending, culminating in three straight playoff appearances. The last three-plus seasons has also included 12 straight wins for Denver over the Wolves.
Minnesota got rid of that losing stream in emphatic fashion with a 124-107 win at Ball Arena with a blistering performance from three-point range. The league's 23rd best three-point shooting team entering the night was 23 of 48 (48%) on Wednesday for its second straight win.
Anthony Edwards hit a career-high 10 threes on his way to 38 points. On a normal night there is no shot the uber-confident Edwards thinks he will miss. On Wednesday, he was right. Edwards' 10 threes came on 14 attempts and he prevented the Nuggets from making it a game on multiple occasions.
Nikola Jokic led the shorthanded Nuggets with 27. Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points and eclipsed 10,000 for his career.
The Wolves wasted little time in torching the nets in hitting their first five shots of the night for an early 12-3 lead. Both Edwards and Patrick Beverley hit three first-quarter threes. The Wolves were generating open looks from their offense or just hitting threes in isolation. It seemed like everything was falling.
The only blemish on their first quarter was their defense. Denver shot 65% in the first quarter, which bested the Wolves 63%, but the Wolves hit nine threes and Denver's three. Denver scored 20 points in the paint early and even though the Wolves led by as many as 16 in the first quarter, Denver cut the lead to 40-32 entering the second.
The Wolves' bench unit didn't fall off much from the starters. Jaden McDaniels entered the game and hit three first-half threes of his own. Naz Reid pitched in one from deep while Russell hit three as the Wolves pulled ahead by as much as 20. They finished the first half with a franchise record 16 threes in 29 attempts (55%). All this and Towns, their best three-point shooter was just 1 of 4.
The shorthanded Nuggets, who are without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., got 17 from Jokic in the first half and stayed with 14, 75-61 by the half.
No double digit lead is ever safe in the NBA and as the third quarter began the threat of a Nuggets run loomed. A dunk from Jeff Green pulled Denver within 83-72, but before long the Wolves started making shots again.
Towns and Edwards each hit threes and Edwards got a layup off a Jarred Vanderbilt steal and with a 10-0 spurt the Wolves led 98-76. They would lead by as much as 23 before heading into the fourth quarter ahead 108-88.
Denver hung around for a bit during the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 12 with 5:45 to play. One more push and it might have made the game interesting. But Edwards wasn't going to be denied. He drove on Jokic for a layup and followed that up with three more threes.
Ball game over. It took a little longer for Edwards to cool down.
