No Anthony Edwards. No Donte DiVincenzo. No Ayo Dosunmu. No Kyle Anderson.
Didn’t matter.
The Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night in Game 6, 110-98, in a game that spoke volumes about the culture within each organization.
The Timberwolves faced hardships at multiple points in this series and overcame them all. The cameback from down big in Game 2, won Game 4 despite losing Edwards and DiVincenzo midgame, and without four rotation players, including their top three
backcourt players, in Game 6, they closed out the series at Target Center in front of a sold-out crowd.
“This is one of the best collective efforts that we’ve had here,” Timberwolves Head Coach Chris Finch said after the game. “Just all the adversity that we’ve faced through this series, and keep fighting, keep guarding, and keep leaning into defense. That’s the best offensive team in the league, there too. So they’re not easy to stop. But yeah, very, very proud of our guys, very proud of our organization.”
The Nuggets, on the other hand, wilted in the face of any kind of stress.
After Jaden McDaniels called them out after Game 2, they did nothing besides give up 68 paint points in Game 3. Instead, when McDaniels punctuated the Game 4 win with a layup in the final seconds, Nikola Jokić took offense to the “unwritten rules” being broken rather than play defense at any point in the game.
Following a win in Game 5, in which the Nuggets inexplicably showboated against a depleted Timberwolves squad, Denver was dominated yet again by McDaniels in Game 6 to the tune of 32 points and 10 rebounds while putting Jamal Murray in handcuffs the entire game.
Finch spoke glowingly about the Wolves’ All-Defense forward after the game: “Jaden McDaniels, he talked all series, and he backed it up all series, and that’s called legitimate tough. He not only led us tonight scoring-wise, but Murray was 4-for-17. I don’t think he scored on Jaden the whole game. So that’s what you want.
“I’m just happy it’s over,” McDaniels himself said with his usual energy. “Happy we were able to come out on top. Stuff was said, and I’m just happy we were able to prove our point and just get the win and move on to the next round.”
McDaniels wasn’t the only Timberwolves player who outclassed the Nuggets in this series. Rudy Gobert played outstanding defense on Jokić from start to finish. While the three-time MVP did score an efficient 28 points to go along with ten assists, Gobert did enough to slow him down in one-on-one coverage to prevent the other Nuggets players from getting open looks from Jokić.
Possibly the most impressive stat of the series for Gobert was that not once in this series did Jokić score more than 30 points in a game. Despite taking his normal diet of shots, Jokić never found a consistent way to attack Gobert on offense, which led to inefficient shots the entire series.
“I just enjoy winning,” Gobert explained. “Whether I have two points or 20 points. Eight assists or one assist. Of course, some games, you feel that you have the ball in your hands more than other games. I’ve learned how to enjoy doing the dirty work, how to do the little things, how to make my teammates better. And when my teammates get the success, we get the success, so I enjoy it.”
With virtually the entire Timberwolves backcourt out with injuries, Minnesota was going to need more than just McDaniels and Gobert to play well. They were going to need someone from outside the starting to step up and fill the void left by Edwards, DiVincenzo, and Dosunmu.
In Game 6, that player was Terrence Shannon Jr., who scored 24 points in his first career playoff start.
Shannon Jr. had a tough season. He dealt with a foot injury for most of the regular season and was largely ineffective in the minutes he did get on the court. To Shannon Jr.’s credit, he never appeared to get discouraged and, based on his play in Game 6, clearly kept himself ready to play if his number got called.
“Just do what I can to help the team win,” Shannon Jr. stated on the postgame podium. “I found out I was starting when I got in the building. I still had the same mindset, be aggressive and do what I can on the defensive end.”
The Timberwolves were not the only team in Minnesota to close out a series on Thursday night. Across the river in St. Paul, the Minnesota Wild defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 to advance to the second round of the Playoffs for the first time since 2015. It was also the first time the Timberwolves and Wild in the same season both advanced in the Playoffs.
In the past 30 years, Minnesota sports fans have not had much to cheer for with their men’s teams. None of the pro teams have made it to the championship round in that time frame, and the countless heartbreaks have fostered a fanbase that is ready to assume the worst.
None of that angst was felt at Target Center on Thursday. The crowd was ready to go from the opening tip, and even when the game got close late, the nervous energy that was far too common inside Target Center for nearly two straight decades was nowhere to be found.
The Wolves have now made the Playoffs in five consecutive seasons and won at least a first-round series in the previous three. It’s an unprecedented level of success for a franchise that had only made it to the playoffs once in the 17 years before this streak.
Regardless of where the rest of the Playoffs go from here for the Timberwolves, winning this series with all the injuries stands out as an incredible accomplishment, one that will be remembered for years to come.
