The Minnesota Timberwolves did not miss a shot on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it certainly felt like the Timberwolves made every shot they attempted, especially from three-point range.
It all started when Minnesota shot 16-of-29 from three in the first half and were led by five threes from Anthony Edwards, who the Nuggets had zero answer for. Edwards constantly got whatever shot he wanted and made Denver pay time and time again. The Timberwolves would eventually finish the game with 23 made threes, 10 of which came from Edwards as Denver could not keep up with Minnesota’s red hot shooting.
The crazy thing was even though Denver gave up 75 first half points they were only down 14-points as they shot a respectable 9-of-21 from beyond the arc through two quarters. Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 17 points at the break to go with a near two quarter triple-double thanks to his eight assists and seven rebounds.
The Nuggets made a run at things in the third quarter, but Edwards proved to be to much as he constantly kept Denver away from a single digit deficit. One bright spot for the Nuggets was that Jokic had a triple-double through three quarters with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Markus Howard was another bright spot for the Nuggets as he scored 14 points off the bench before exiting the game early in the fourth quarter. Howard went to dive for a loose ball and got hit directly in his left knee and had to be helped off the floor by Nuggets training staff. There is no word yet on the extent of Howard’s injury, but it certainly did not look great as the Nuggets injury woes continue.
Even though Denver got it to within 14-points in the fourth quarter they just could not slow down Edwards as he drained an unreal three-pointer — his ninth of the night — with 3:41 remaining to get Minnesota a 120-99 lead. That was the proverbial nail in the coffin as the Nuggets lost 124-107, which puts their record back at 14-14.
Edwards finished with a game high 38 points to lead all scorers behind an impressive 10-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc. Karl-Anthony Towns also gave the Nuggets fits all night as he scored 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field.
For the Nuggets, they were led by Jokic who finished with 27 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds. Monte Morris was the Nuggets second leading scorer with 15 points, while Howard (14), Zeke Nnaji (13), and Jeff Green (10) also finished in double figures.
The Nuggets will be back in action Friday night on the road in Atlanta to face the Hawks.
