Minnesota Timberwolves Vaporize Denver Nuggets 115-70; Forces A Game 7 Sunday

Anthony Edwards does not shy away from the moment.

Even after his team lost three in a row to the defending champions, the 22-year-old called his shot and told the Denver locker room attendants he would see them on Sunday.

He delivered on his promise.

Led by their budding superstar, Minnesota set the court ablaze with a dominating 45-point blowout victory on their home floor. The Timberwolves ran the Nuggets out of the building, going on a 20-0 run in the first quarter and a 24-0 run in the fourth, where they dismantled Michael Malone’s men. Minnesota PG Mike Conley returned from injury after missing game five, and his work as a table setter stabilized a struggling offense coming into Thursday night. When the offense sputtered, Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid and Karl-Anthony Towns obliterated Denver on the glass, combining for 41 rebounds between the three big men; Denver corralled only 43 rebounds as a team.

Although the scoreline ended up in the Timberwolves’ favor, the first three minutes looked rocky. Denver raced out to a 9-2 lead, causing Minnesota to call timeout just three minutes into the game. Whatever they said needs to be bottled up and sold to the general public as Chris Finch’s squad ripped off its first 20-0 run of the game. Minnesota scored however they wanted as they sprayed the ball around the perimeter for wide-open threes or dunked it home down low. 23 of the 31 points Minnesota scored in the first quarter came from a triple, layup or dunk. Edwards dropped in 14 points of his own in the opening 12 minutes as his team led 31-14 at the end of the frame.

Denver responded early in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 11 at 8:32 after Aaron Gordon made three. Still, without consistent offense from Jamal Murray, the Nuggets did not get any closer. The star point guard went 1-9 in the first half, including shooting 0-3 from long range. Without his scoring touch and Denver struggling from beyond the arc, they went 7-36 from deep in the game; the Nuggets mustered only 40 points at the half and trailed by an insurmountable 19 points.

Minnesota did not mess around to start the third and continued to jump all over Denver, outscoring their opponent 17-10 in the first six minutes of the quarter. The lead swelled to 25 entering the fourth, but as Malone waved the white flag and took out his starters with ten minutes left in the game, Minnesota sent a message. The Timberwolves torched the Denver reserves as they ripped off 19 consecutive points before the Nuggets made a free throw. Minnesota swished five deep balls in the fourth as their outside shooting burred Denver. They ended up romping Denver by 45 and carried all the momentum on the road in a game seven.