MINNEAPOLIS – Anthony Edwards scored 27 points to lift the Minnesota Timberwolves out of a mid-series slump with a perfect 115-70 win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night and a perfect start to this roller-coaster playoff series. They forced a Game 7 match.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, the 45-point win is the largest all-time mark against a defending champion in playoff history and the second-most in NBA history when facing elimination. Denver was trailing by as many as 50 points, the largest margin of victory in a game over the past 25 seasons (regular season and playoffs).
Jayden McDaniels scored 21 points and pitched with lockdown defense, and Mike Conley returned from injury with 13 points. Big men Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid combined for 38 rebounds in a relentless effort to hold NBA MVP Nikola Jokic to a relatively quiet 22 points.
The decisive game for a spot in the Western Conference Finals will be played Sunday night in Denver.
“They hit us first, they hit us second, they hit us third,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Give them credit, they did what they needed to do to keep this series alive and get it back to Denver for Game 7.
“When you're down by 50 points in a playoff game, it's always a disappointing loss. It's never a fun experience.”
History suggests that Thursday night's blowout loss won't necessarily spell doom for Denver. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Nuggets are his fifth team in NBA history in Game 6 where he was trailed by more than 30 points going into Game 7. Three of the previous four teams, most recently in 2018, when he came back to win Game 7. The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 6 of the season opener to the Indiana Pacers by 34 points and withdrew from the series.
For the Nuggets, Jamal Murray struggled again with just 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting, and seven of those points came in the final five minutes in a 36-9 bench loss. The Wolves' reserves led a 24-0 run in the fourth quarter to take an astonishing 49-point lead, a fitting follow-up to the 20-0 surge the starters led in the opening frame.
Aaron Gordon had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, but they made just 7 of 36 3-pointers and trailed by at least 17 points with 31 minutes left in the game.
“We have to go home and get back to playing like we were playing when we won three straight,” Malone said. “I have no doubt that I will be ready for it on Sunday.”
McDaniels' offense is usually a bonus for the Timberwolves, but he's not as quiet as he was when he totaled 35 points in the first five games. He was all over the court Thursday night, going 3-of-5 from deep and electrifying the crowd with some well-timed dunks.
The last time he played at Target Center, Edwards, whose 44-point performance was ultimately wasted in a Game 4 loss, had the tenacity of a superstar player refusing to surrender the series. He scored nine points in a 20-0 spurt, needing just nine shots from the floor to score 19 points in the first half.
In the third quarter, he turned a steal into a fast break, then made two crossover dribbles that lifted Michael Porter Jr. into the air for a dunk. A few minutes later, he ran past Porter and drew a foul, landing hard on his back. The Wolves called a timeout to give Edwards time to catch his breath, and when Edwards returned to the court without missing any time, he was awarded the title of “MVP!” The chants rose.
As the fourth-quarter timeout signaled the beginning of time for the benches to clear, Edwards held up seven fingers to the frenzied crowd in anticipation of what would happen next.
In Game 5 at Denver, the Timberwolves suffered frequent offensive disruptions with Conley out with a sore right calf muscle, but the 17-year veteran point guard was clearly able to snap up half-court sets upon his return. Helped keep things tidy.
The Timberwolves held the Nuggets to 14 points in the first quarter, tied for the second-lowest total in the league this postseason behind Miami (12 points), which lost to Boston in Game 3.
Murray has come back to life and done everything productive after showing significant cracks in the previous three games against McDaniels and other NBA-leading defenses.
Murray, who went 3-of-18 in Game 2, tried everything from leaners to fadeaways to spot-up 3-pointers. He even airballed a finger roll from the baseline, but on the ensuing possession, a bad matchup with Naz Reid hitting the post led him to step back and score a flip-in to give the Timberwolves a 43-24 lead.
McDaniels made a lead 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to make it 59-40, but Murray made a 55-foot swing late in the second quarter of Game 3 to make it an 8-0 run over. It was in contrast to. His crucial 20 seconds of that contest.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
