Remember all of that talk just a few days ago about the implications of the Minnesota Timberwolves sweeping the Denver Nuggets? The Nuggets silenced that noise by winning game three in Minnesota on Friday night, and the Nuggets regained homecourt advantage with a 115-107 win in Minnesota on Sunday night. The Nuggets shot .570 from the field and logged assists on 29 of their 45 field goals made in a brilliant display of efficient offensive basketball.
As usual, Nikola Jokic led the way. The three-time regular season MVP scored 35 points on 15-26 field goal shooting while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing for seven assists. Jokic professed indifference regarding critics who questioned his selection as the 2024 NBA regular season MVP, but his fourth quarter play was anything but indifferent: he scored 16 points on 6-10 field goal shooting while playing all 12 minutes. Jokic is the hub of Denver's offense: when he is guarded one on one he scores at a very efficient rate, and when he is trapped he not only gives up the ball willingly but he makes the right pass even if that does not led to him getting the assist--in contrast to some players who hold the ball because they are more focused on getting an assist than on making the right play for the team.
Aaron Gordon made a major contribution with 27 points on 11-12 field goal shooting while also snaring seven rebounds, and passing for six assists. Denver's successful counter to Minnesota's pressure defense against Jamal Murray is to have Gordon bring the ball up and initiate the offense. Murray added 19 points and a team-high eight assists. Chrisitan Braun (11 points) and Justin Holiday (10 points) made strong contributions off of the bench.
Anthony Edwards made good on his vow after game three to be more aggressive and more effective in game four, pouring in a game-high 44 points on 16-25 field goal shooting. He had five rebounds and five assists. Edwards is a wonderful player, and it would be nice if media members gave him the space to blossom into the best version of himself as opposed to forcing comparisons with all-time greats like Michael Jordan and Dwyane Wade. Jordan won six championships, six Finals MVPs, five regular season MVPs, and 10 scoring titles. Wade won three championships, one Finals MVP, and one scoring title. Edwards just won his first playoff series, so from an accomplishment standpoint the comparisons are an insult to the established legends--and from a skill set standpoint, Edwards relies on the outside shot much more than Jordan or Wade did.
Five Minnesota players joined Edwards as double figure scorers: Mike Conley (15 points, game-high nine assists), Karl Anthony-Towns (13 points, 12 rebounds), Rudy Gobert (11 points, 14 rebounds), Jaden McDaniels (11 points), and Naz Reid (11 points). However--and as the TNT studio crew correctly pointed out at halftime and after the game--the Timberwolves need more from Towns, who shot just 5-18 from the field.
The Timberwolves reverted to their old habit of squandering too many possessions with dumb plays at crucial moments. This game--and perhaps this series--turned on a bizarre sequence in the final 20.2 seconds of the first half. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope drilled a three pointer to put Denver up 59-49, and Minnesota had an opportunity to hold the ball for the last shot--but Jokic stole the ball from Edwards and made a precise outlet pass to Michael Porter Jr. for a dunk. Nickeil Alexander-Walker''s long inbounds pass was then stolen by Murray, who sank a halfcourt three pointer just before time expired. There is often a lot of talk about "clutch points" and about what happens in a game's closing moments, but the wild conclusion of the first half when Denver scored eight points in 20.2 seconds provided the game's final margin. It is important to emphasize that many players in Murray's position would have preserved their field goal percentage by making sure to not heave the ball until after the buzzer sounded; taking that low percentage shot to help the team at the possible cost of individual statistics speaks volumes about how the Nuggets' mentality differs from the mentality of many other NBA teams.
After the game, Minnesota Coach Chris Finch described the debacle at the end of the first half as a series of "inexcusable plays" and flatly stated the root cause for the loss: "We lost our composure." He is correct on both counts, and it is interesting how numbers do not always tell the full story. Denver committed one more turnover than Minnesota (12-11), and Minnesota only committed one more foul than Denver (21-20), but if you watched the game with understanding you saw how costly Minnesota's miscues were based on score, time, and overall game situation. For example, Towns wasted a foul 50 feet away from the hoop by bumping Jokic at midcourt when the Nuggets were not threatening to score; that kind of play moves the other team closer to the bonus without conferring any kind of advantage such as stopping an advantage fast break or preventing a player from converting an easy shot at close range. Not all fouls are created equal (and the same can be said for most statistics, which is one reason why "advanced basketball statistics" are not nearly as accurate or meaningful as "stat gurus" suggest, because numbers taken out of the context of situational basketball can be deceptive).
The Timberwolves have improved a lot in the past year, and they have taken strides toward becoming a legit contender, but the final step for them is to clean up their handling of situational basketball at both ends of the court. On paper, they controlled the series after taking a 2-0 series lead with back to back wins at Denver, but now in this tied race to four wins the Nuggets hold the advantage of hosting game five and game seven (if necessary). The home team has yet to win a game during this series, but that is likely to change in the pivotal game five at Denver, because after receiving a wake-up call in the first two games the Nuggets understand the level of energy and physicality required to deal with the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves are not a team that can be toyed with like the L.A. Lakers, and in the last two games the Nuggets have stepped up to the challenge.