The Denver Nuggets looked to get back to winning after dropping game one against the Minnesota Timberwolves and had an extra boost when it was announced that Rudy Gobert would miss the game to attend the birth of his child. Despite the Wolves being shorthanded they looked anything but. Minnesota played suffocating defense all night and got big performances from Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns. That was more than enough to offset anything the Nuggets got from any of their players. The Wolves win going away and put Denver on life support in the series. With Gobert out the Nuggets made an effort early to get the ball inside which brought some success but a pair of Nikola Jokic turnovers kept Minnesota in front. Denver’s defense was solid to start the game as well and kept it tight. Jokic was making a concerted effort to get KAT into foul trouble but the refs were letting them play. Minnesota attacked the basket while Denver settled for outside shots which prevented the Nuggets from gaining back the lead. Aaron Gordon was having a big quarter though and keeping Denver in it. Unfortunately, the Nuggets sloppy play was back in force with four turnovers and the refs refused to call anything for either team. Minnesota was able to push their lead up a little more with a 10-3 run and ended the first leading 28-20. Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. started the second quarter on the bench and Jamal Murray was completely ineffective against Minnesota’s defense which left the Nuggets unable to score. The Timberwolves lead doubled to sixteen and Malone took a timeout to get Jokic back in the game but the Wolves had found their range from three. It ended up being a 21-3 run for Minnesota. To make matters worse the Nuggets started committing fouls and got Minnesota into the bonus with over five minutes to play. After that Edwards started to get his game going by attacking the basket and before you knew it the lead was up above twenty. Denver continued to look terrible, they were up to nine turnovers in the first half with two minutes to go. They managed to get two more turnovers before the end of the half and left a disastrous second quarter trailing 61-35. The second half started with the Wolves attacking the basket and the Nuggets shooting jumpers but Minnesota was a little more careless with the ball than they were in the first half. It didn’t matter much with the Nuggets still unable to make any shots. The lead pushed up past thirty and Malone took a timeout with his team looking completely cooked. Naz Reid checked in and knocked down some threes while Denver started playing for pride. They managed to force Micah Nori/Chris Finch to call their first timeout of the game (not a typo) at about the halfway point of the third. Minnesota’s offense cooled off a bit down the stretch of the quarter and the Nuggets put together a little run but blew an opportunity to truly make some headway and give themselves a chance. They still trailed 82-60 after three. To open the fourth the Wolves were still cold on offense but the Nuggets couldn’t string together shots. To their credit, Denver’s bench unit wasn’t giving up and played with good energy, particularly Justin Holiday, which worked Minnesota’s lead back below twenty. You could tell Minnesota’s focus and energy was starting to dwindle with the massive lead. Unfortunately, to add injury to insult on Denver’s side, Reggie Jackson got hurt and headed back to the locker room unable to put any weight on his left leg. The team called it left calf tightness. Towns and Edwards started to hit a couple threes which prevented any chance of a miracle comeback with Denver still trailing by twenty plus at the six minute mark of the quarter. In a microcosm of the night and the series, at one point the Nuggets got a turnover and tried to run out the break but Gordon turned the ball over attempting a between the legs pass to Porter. The Nuggets fans headed to the exits, Malone emptied the bench and the game ended to chants of “Wolves in four” and MVP for Edwards. Terrible performance from Denver as they lose 106-80.
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