Anthony Edwards’ 43 points led to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 106:99 home win over the Denver Nuggets.
Anthony Edwards scored 43 points, Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 20 and the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves took advantage of Denver’s home-court advantage with a 106-99 victory over the Nuggets in Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal series.
Naz Reid scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, Mike Conley had 14 points and 10 assists and Rudy Gobert grabbed 13 rebounds for Minnesota, which got off to a 5-0 start to the postseason.
“They are defending champions, it is difficult to beat them. Great team. They have great players,” Edwards said of the Nuggets.
“They have the best player in the league in Nikola Jokic, the best closer in Jamal Murray and the best 3-point shooter in Michael Porter Jr. So it’s hard to beat this team.”
Game 2 takes place on Monday in Denver.
Anthony Edwards puts on a show and sets a playoff career high to win the title @Timberwolves to win Game 1 in Denver!
Karl-Anthony Towns: 20 PTS (8-13 FGM), 4 REB
Naz Reid: 16 PTS (14 in 4Q), 4 REB
Nikola Jokic: 32 PTS, 8 REB, 9 AST, 3 STLGame 2: Monday, 10 p.m./ET on TNT pic.twitter.com/iirmYPip3j
– NBA (@NBA) May 5, 2024
Jokic had 32 points, Porter added 20 and Murray finished the second half with 17 for the Nuggets, who are trailing in a playoff series for the first time since their first-round loss to the Golden State Warriors in 2022.
It was a close game at the start of the fourth period, but the Timberwolves were more balanced as the game went on.
Conley hit his third 3-pointer of the game to give Minnesota an 80-77 lead, but Murray answered from long range and was fouled by Towns. He then completed the four-point play.
Edwards, who had 25 points in the first half, hit a layup through traffic and an 18-foot pullup to put the Timberwolves back in the lead. Reid hit two 3-pointers, converted a layup and sank a miss from Edwards to give Minnesota a 94-88 lead with 4:20 left.
Jokic converted a three-point play, but the Timberwolves then began to put the game away. Gobert made a layup and made a 13-footer, and Edwards sank two free throws. Porter committed an offensive foul and Edwards’ 14-foot fadeaway made the score 102-91 with 1:36 left.
Jokic’s 3-pointer cut Denver’s deficit to 102-96 with 1:02 left, but the Timberwolves closed it out.
Minnesota took an 18-4 lead with 5:12 left in the first quarter, but the Nuggets marshaled the defense. They forced seven turnovers and held the Timberwolves to 22 points in the final 17 minutes of the first half to lead 44-40 at halftime.
Towns and Conley each scored 11 points in the third quarter, helping Minnesota take a 73-71 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“An 18-4 start, so we go down early, fight like hell to take the lead at halftime, then we didn’t play defense in the third,” Denver coach Michael Malone said.
“You can’t just trade baskets with this team.”