MINNEAPOLIS — In most seasons this game might have been decided before the tip.
The closing days of the regular season. One team competing for a lottery pick, the other for seeding in the upcoming NBA playoffs.
But this isn't normal. Since coach Chris Finch took over as Timberwolves coach the idea has been to compete to win rather than for lottery position. So Thursday's game with Denver – a team that entered the night seeded fourth in the Western Conference, just a game behind third-seeded L.A. Clippers – was entertaining.
"We're going to play 'em out to win,'' Finch said before the game. "That's been our stated goal from the time we got here.''
The Wolves lost, 114-103. But it wasn't for lack of trying. It had a lot more to do with the sizable starting lineup the Nuggets threw at the Wolves.
The Wolves were coming off consecutive victories, by a total of 51 points, over Orlando and Detroit, two teams that don't share the Wolves' commitment to competitiveness down the stretch of a lost season.
The Nuggets? Behind 31 points and 14 rebounds from Nikola Jokic, by scoring 60 points in the paint, Denver (46-24) was just too much for the Wolves (22-48) at Target Center.
Aaron Gordon and JaVale McGee were both in double figures for the Nuggets, as were bench players Vlatko Cancar and Markus Howard.
Anthony Edwards, continuing his rookie of the year campaign, scored 29 points. Of those, 18 came in a third quarter in which the Wolves trimmed a double-figure lead to three entering the fourth.
The Wolves were still within five before back-to-back baskets by Facundo Campazzo and Howard ( a three) made it 104-94. Out of a time out, Jokic's three-point play with 5:47 left pushed the lead to 13.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 20 points with 11 rebounds and D'Angelo Russell had 17.
Denver led 35-26 after ending the first quarter on a 23-11 run. The main reason: Jokic. In the first quarter along he had a game. He had four of the Nuggets' six offensive rebounds – which resulted in 10 points – and scored 16 of his team's 35 points, getting an assist and a block along the way.
It was a high-scoring center matchup with Towns, who had nine points, four boards and three assists. But the Nuggets made 13 of 23 two-point shots in the quarter and three of six threes while building their nine-point lead.
That lead was 11 at the half, thanks to a Nuggets bench that scored 17 of Denver's 28 second-quarter points.
The Wolves got within four early in the quarter and were within six before Denver two straight layups by Howard started a run that put Denver up 13 on Rivers' three-pointer with 1:16 left. JaVale McGee's dunk with 18.8 seconds left in the half – on a nice pass from Jokic – put Denver up 63-52 at the half.
The Wolves fell behind 75-63 in the third as Denver scored on the put-back time after time. But Edwards – who scored 12 points in the quarter hit two of the four Wolves three-pointers in a run that brought them within 79-75 on Edwards three with 5:15 left in the quarter.
He wasn't done. After the Nuggets pushed the lead back to 90-77, Edwards had six points in a 12-2 run to end the quarter, one ended by Edwards' assist on Towns' three-pointer with 23.2 seconds left in the quarter.
In all, Edwards had 18 points in the third quarter, to go with three assists, which means he had a hand in 26 of the team's 37 points in the quarter.
