MINNEAPOLIS — Through three games in this series, a team with championship aspirations has shown the Minnesota Timberwolves just how far it has to go to become a serious basketball team.
With their 120-111 victory at Target Center, the Denver Nuggets took a 3-0 lead in this series and have all but made the Wolves a minor speed bump on their path to a potential championship. They can finish the job Sunday in Minnesota.
The Wolves are now one game away from Denver putting them out of their misery in a trying, tumultuous season. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series.
Anthony Edwards again showed up in a big way for the Wolves with 36 points, but outside of Karl-Anthony Towns posting 25, he didn't have much help, especially from the bench.
The Wolves have felt the losses of Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels to injuries throughout the series and especially Friday. The Wolves had just 10 bench points. Kyle Anderson, who has been so steady for them all season, was just 1-for-7.
The Wolves got within five multiple times in the fourth quarter but never got closer inside of 10 minutes to make a serious threat of overtaking the lead.
Fans started making their way to the exits with two minutes left and the Nuggets up nine.
Every time the Wolves made a run at Denver, the Nuggets responded behind Nikola Jokic, who had a triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists. Michael Porter Jr. scored 23 points.
The Wolves opened the night with a 19-12 lead, their biggest of the night. But Jokic quickly got Denver back in the game with his scoring. He had his most assertive quarter of the series in that area in the first and spurred a 9-0 Denver run that gave the Nuggets a 26-21 lead before the teams finished the first tied 28-28. Towns and Edwards were a combined 3-for-11 to start.
Denver caught fire to start the second quarter and looked as if they might begin rolling the Wolves then. The Nuggets began 12-for-16 from the field and took a 58-45 lead. It was about to be 15 until Edwards chased down Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a stunning block in transition. Then Edwards went the length of the floor for a layup, and the Wolves rallied from there for a 10-3 run to close the quarter and a 61-55 halftime deficit.
The Wolves got a potentially important development at the 5 minute, 51 second mark of the third when Jokic picked up his third foul. Minnesota was down 78-70 at the time, but they couldn't make a significant dent in Denver's lead when Jokic went to the bench for the rest of the quarter. Thanks to a strong quarter from Porter and Bruce Brown, who combined for 13 points, Denver carried a 94-88 lead into the fourth and wouldn't give it up.
