Even if the Minnesota Timberwolves didn't grab your attention after a 56-26 season, or when Anthony Edwards emerged as one of the NBA's next superstars during the regular season and first round of the playoffs. Even if they don't have your attention, they still have your attention. Be careful now.
The Timberwolves took a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
Edwards, the NBA's budding 22-year-old superstar, scored 25 of his game-high 43 points in the first half as the Timberwolves defeated Denver 106-99 on Saturday. This was Edwards' second 40-point game in the playoffs.
He joins Kobe Bryant as the only players under the age of 22 to score at least 40 points in consecutive playoff games, and Edwards, who made 17 of 29 from the field, has three consecutive road games with at least 35 points. He became the 10th player to win this award. Games within one postseason.
Game 2 will be played Monday in Denver (10 p.m. ET, TNT).
There was something strange about this game. Denver's Jamal Murray was held scoreless in the first half for the first time in 59 games of his playoff career. Three of Minnesota's starters, Mike Conley, Jayden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert, combined for two points in the first half, but Timberwolves Sixth Man of the Year winner Naz Reid scored in the first half. I couldn't score.
And Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch sat behind the bench Wednesday after undergoing surgery to repair a torn patella tendon sustained in a sideline collision with Conley in the first-round shutout win over Phoenix. Ta. Assistant coach Mika Nori paced the sideline shouting instructions, but Finch was in constant communication with Nori and the coaching staff from his bench seat on the sideline.
However, Conley scored in the second half with 14 points and 10 assists, Karl-Anthony Towns added 20 points, Gobert had 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks, and Reed had 16 points. In the second half, the Timberwolves scored 10 points in a row.
This series is more of a 1-seed vs. 1-seed, considering both teams had a chance at the top seed heading into the final day of the regular season.
That was a great sign for the Timberwolves, who started Game 1 on the road and offset two-time MVP Nikola Jokic's 32 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals. Michael Porter Jr. added 20 points, six rebounds and three steals for Denver.
No team in the NBA understands playoff basketball and what it takes to be successful at this time of the season more than the Nuggets.
That doesn't mean the Nuggets will win every game in the playoffs or repeat as NBA champions. This means they are the hardest team to beat and another team will need to outperform Denver to win the series.
Every team knows that. The Timberwolves know this from their loss to the Nuggets in the playoffs last season.
In Saturday's series opener, the Timberwolves held off a run from Denver until the end, building a 102-91 lead on Edwards' 14-foot fadeaway with 1:36 left in the fourth quarter.
Minnesota shot 71% in the second half and outscored the Nuggets 22-15 in the final six minutes.
Timberwolves beat Nuggets
Now all you have to do is do it three more times.
