DENVER – On Monday night at Ball Arena, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets added another thrilling chapter to one of the best rivalries in the NBA.
Game 2 started incredibly rough for the Timberwolves. Their defense got picked apart from beyond the arc, including an incredible four and-1 fouls on 3-pointers in just the first quarter. The offense was equally lifeless, with little to no purpose to their actions on the court.
“We came into the game trying to shoot dumb shots,” Timberwolves
Head Coach Chris Finch explained. “They were a step ahead of us in everything. We were a little slow defensively, and things settled down. We just chipped into the lead slowly. I was particularly pleased with the way that we kind of just didn’t try to get it all back in one or two possessions. Sometimes we have a habit of doing that, but guys did a really good job.”
The Timberwolves fell down by as many as 19 points early in the second quarter. The series and the Timberwolves season seemed to be teetering on the brink of collapse as the weight of a long NBA schedule and a recent stretch of injuries to Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid, among others, appeared to be dragging them down.
The Wolves had a choice in that moment. They could have let go of the rope, played out the string the rest of the series, booked their flights to Cancun, and let go of a season that has largely been a disappointment.
A lesser group would have made that choice. Instead, the Wolves fought back.
“Just coming together, staying poised within those moments,” Edwards said. “I think they was up like, what, 15, 16 [points], just trying to make runs, get defensive stops. We was on one cord, I feel like on the defensive end tonight, especially once they went on those runs.”
The run started in the second quarter when Edwards, pushing through his nagging knee injury, scored 13 points in the frame, including a pair of 3-pointers and multiple drives to the rim for layups and free throws.
It was the first time in the series that the real Anthony Edwards showed up. With his right knee still hampering him, Edwards pushed through and led the Wolves on a 39-12 run that completely changed the tone of the game.
“Definitely uplifts me,” Julius Randle said with Edwards sitting next to him at the podium. “I feel like I can’t let him down. If he’s out there battling, then there’s no excuse why I can’t get my best and make the extra effort plays and just go out there and compete at the highest level. So it definitely energizes me. It makes me want to be on my best game.”
Randle himself, after an especially poor Game 1, gave the Wolves exactly what they needed in Game 2, giving Minnesota the proper mix of playmaking bully-ball game in the paint. He finished the game with 24 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and only a single turnover.
It wasn’t just Minnesota’s offense that rose to the occasion after a horrendous first quarter; it was the defense, too. Rudy Gobert was forced to sit much of the second and third quarters with foul trouble, but when he returned to the court in the fourth quarter, he dominated.
In the fourth quarter, Gobert held Nikola Jokić to just one make on seven shot attempts. Gobert took the one-on-one defensive assignment and shut down a three-time MVP.
The praise for Gobert poured in after the game, “He was phenomenal,” Finch said. “Surviving the foul trouble, just playing his defense before the catch, after the catch. Challenging everything. It’s hard as heck to guard those guys.”
Randle also spoke about Gobert’s impact on Game 2.
Gobert this week was not selected as a top-three finalist for Defensive Player of the Year, finishing in fourth place for the award. Gobert, with a smirk, referenced his DPOY when answering a question about shutting down Jokić; “I was lucky. A top-three defender cannot do that. So I was lucky.”
The dagger for the Timberwolves came from Donte DiVincenzo. With the Wolves up by one with just over a minute left, the Nuggets double-teamed Edwards, who found DiVincenzo just one pass away for the 3-pointer to put Minnesota up by four.
“I love Dante,” Edwards remarked. “I told him after the game he got gorilla nuts. He’s willing to take any kind of shot at any moment of the game, no matter how far it is.” DiVincenzo finished with 16 points, including four 3-pointers, while sporting a team high +20.
Donte explained what allowed him to be successful in his Game 2 minutes: “Kinda just focusing on the little things. Loose balls. Getting my hands on stuff. Disrupting their rhythm of plays. That half a second where you’re disrupting the play, Jaden gets back in front, Rudy gets back in front. And then they make or miss.”
Following a Jokić dunk and a split pair of free throws from Christian Braun, Randle knocked down a two free throws to put Minnesota up by three with 18 seconds left. Jamal Murray subsequently took a head-scratching long two that rimmed out, which led to a leak out dunk by DiVicenzo to salt the game away.
Jaden McDaniels, like Gobert with Jokić, did a fantastic job guarding Murray down the stretch of the game. Murray went 1-5 from the field in the fourth quarter. Combined, the usually deadly combo of Jokić and Murray shot 2-12 in the final frame.
The comments from McDaniels after the game were not focused on the Denver offense, but their defense, or the lack thereof.
Most NBA players would never say publicly what McDaniels did. They would care too much about what other people thought and not have the confidence to back it up when the opponent inevitably responds.
Not Jaden. He so clearly does not care what other people think of him or his team. He is willing to say when he thinks a defender is trash because he, in fact, believes it.
McDaniels scored 14 points in Game 2, all of which came in or around the paint. McDaniels clearly feels he has an advantage offensively near the rim and attacked that Monday night.
Game 2 was a perfect encapsulation of this era of Timberwolves basketball. Just when it feels like they are teetering on the edge of disaster, they play their best basketball. There could not have been many people who believed they could pull that game out, and just minutes later, they had taken the lead.
The unfortunate aspect of the Wolves is that the opposite is just as often true. Just when it feels like they are ready to get on a roll, they let go of the rope and go into a slump. Trying to predict when these ebbs and flows will take place has been impossible during this up-and-down but ultimately disappointing 49-win regular season.
The Wolves saved their season Monday night in Denver. There’s no doubt they are capable of that type of performance again, but now, it’s up to them to repeat that level of play at least three more times and potentially beyond.
We’ll see if they can do it Thursday night at Target Center for Game 3, where the crowd is sure to be rocking.
