MINNEAPOLIS _ Before Thursday's game between the Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets one coach said he was looking for his team to finish while another was wondering how to get his team started.
Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau's team had been first-half warriors while Michael Malone's squad had spent its first three games working out of early holes.
And that's the way it played out Thursday. Denver, down 15 in the first quarter, took control of the game during a 33-14 third quarter on the way to a 102-99 victory that came despite a late push by the Wolves.
The Wolves, now 1-3 through four games, have held first-half leads of at least 15 points in each of its losses.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 32 points, 22 in the first quarter, with 14 rebounds. Andrew Wiggins scored 25 and Zach LaVine had 14. Nemanja Bjelica came off the bench to score 14.
But the Wolves bench was badly out-played, and the Nuggets' rugged inside play eventually took its toll. Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler scored 19 for Denver (2-2). Center Jusuf Nurkic had 18 and Jameer Nelson had 14.
The Wolves made 7 of 8 3-pointers in the first half while taking a 61-55 lead. But Minnesota was 0-for-7 on 3s in the third and 5-for-20 overall.
That put them in a hole they couldn't dig out of.
Down 13 with just under 9 minutes left, Bjelica scored 10 points in a 12-5 run that pulled the Wolves within 97-91 with 5:43 left.
At 4:33, LaVine hit one of two free throws to pull the Wolves within five. Just over a minute later Wiggin's pull-up made it 96-99. With 2:43 left Towns made one of two free throws and it was a two-point game.
But, at the other end, Emmanuel Mudiay's three-point play pushed the lead back to five and ultimately sealed the game. The Wolves, down three, had a chance on game's final possession, but Bjelica's 3-pointer went in and out as the buzzer sounded.
Yet again Thursday the Wolves came out of the gate strong, building a lead as big as 15 in the opening 12 minutes before finishing the quarter up 12.
Towns got the team started, scoring 14 points with six rebounds in the first nine minutes of the game. But all five starters scored, the team went 3-for-3 on 3-pointers and Dunn, the rookie point guard, had seven assists to give the wolves a 37-25 lead. It was the most first-quarter points the Wolves have scored this season.
From then it went downhill. The lead was cut to six at the half, and then Minnesota had another difficult third quarter.
The ball stopped moving, shots continued not falling, and the Nuggets took control of the game. Nurkic tied the game with 8:30 left in the third. Mudiay gave Denver its first lead since early in the first quarter moments later.
After Wiggins' drive put the Wolves back up by a point, the Nuggets' rugged inside game started taking over. Denver went on a 9-0 run _ one that included a flagrant foul call on Gorgui Dieng on Nurkic that gave the Nuggets a four-point possession when Gallinari hit a trey _ to go up 76-68. Moments later Nikola Jokic's put-back tip pushed the lead to 11, then Gallinari's drive past Towns with 2:37 left in the quarter put Denver, on a 16-2 run up 83-69.
