Minnesota Timberwolves Lose A Nail Bitter To The Denver Nuggets (115-112)

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been hot as of late and were coming back home to play in front of the home crowd which felt like forever. The Timberwolves had the defending champion Denver Nuggets in town after playing in Utah the night before. Minnesota would be going into this matchup without Rudy Gobert (Rib) and Naz Reid (Head) injuries.

The Timberwolves came out a little flat in this game as the Denver Nuggets had the game in full control on both ends. Jokic was a complete monster inside the paint all night as the Timberwolves were without their bigs. One of the bright spots tonight was the minutes that Luka Garza was able to get and how affective he was for the Wolves. Luka did the best he could against the former MVP Nikola Jokic but that wasn’t enough to hold him down. Jokic finished the game with 35 points, 16 rebounds, and 2 assists.

One thing about Jokic’s game is he can adapt to any situation because if he needs to score he can and if he needs to get his teammates involved he can do that as well. Without Gobert the defensive anchor in the lineup Jokic made it tough all night long. His teammate Michael Porter Jr was special tonight and was able to hit some timely shots that gave the Nuggets some confidence when the Timberwolves were making their run.

Anthony Edwards & Jaden McDaniels combined for 56 points on the night and it was a beautiful sight to see. This type of night will boost the confidence of McDaniels adding this to his already all team defense. The Nuggets weren’t able to slow down Anthony Edwards in this one either until the 4th quarter where they made some adjustments. Jaden McDaniels hit some jump shots that kept the Timberwolves in the game. The Timberwolves were able to slow down Jamal Murray but it was Michael Porter Jr that got it going and really stopped the Timberwolves comeback as he finished with 26 points to finish the night.

The Nuggets will face off against the Timberwolves within the next month and I’m looking forward to it being a rematch that the NBA will need their popcorn for as well.

(Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images)