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05/16 22:08 CDT Timberwolves force Game 7 by blowing out Nuggets 115-70 behind
27 points from Anthony Edwards
Timberwolves force Game 7 by blowing out Nuggets 115-70 behind 27 points from
Anthony Edwards
By DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) --- Anthony Edwards scored 27 points to pull the Minnesota
Timberwolves out of their mid-series slump and deliver a flawless 115-70
victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night to force a Game 7 in this
roller-coaster playoff matchup.
Jaden McDaniels pitched in 21 points and lockdown defense, and Mike Conley had
13 points in his return from injury. Big men Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns
and Naz Reid combined for 38 rebounds and a relentless effort to keep NBA MVP
Nikola Jokic to a relatively quiet 22 points.
The decisive game for a spot in the Western Conference finals is in Denver on
Sunday night.
Jamal Murray struggled again with just 10 points on 4-for-18 shooting for the
Nuggets, whose bench was outscored 36-9 --- and seven of those points came in
the final five minutes. The Wolves reserves led a 24-0 run in the fourth
quarter to take a staggering 49-point lead, a fitting follow-up to the 20-0
surge the starters led in the opening frame.
Aaron Gordon had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, who finished
just 7 for 36 from 3-point range and trailed by at least 17 points for the last
31 minutes of the game.
For the Wolves, offense from McDaniels is typically a bonus, but he can't be as
quiet as he was over the first five games with a total of 35 points. He was all
over the court this time, going 3 of 5 from deep and mixing in some well-timed
dunks to ignite the crowd.
Edwards, whose 44-point performance was ultimately wasted in a Game 4 loss the
last time he played at Target Center, had that tenacious look of a superstar
player refusing to cede the series. He had nine points in the 20-0 spurt and
needed only nine shots from the floor to get 19 points in the first half.
In the third quarter, he turned a steal into a fast break before using two
crossover dribbles to get Michael Porter Jr. in the air and blow by him for a
dunk. A few minutes later, he drove past Porter to draw a foul and landed hard
on his back. The Wolves called timeout to give Edwards more time to catch his
breath, and when he walked back on the court without missing time the "MVP!"
chants fired up.
As a fourth-quarter timeout signaled the start of empty-the-bench time, Edwards
helped up seven fingers to the adoring crowd in anticipation of what was coming
next.
The Wolves were frequently in disarray on offense during Game 5 in Denver while
Conley sat out with soreness in his right calf muscle, and the 17-year veteran
point guard clearly helped keep the half-court sets crisp and organized in his
return.
The Wolves held the Nuggets to 14 points in the first quarter, tied for the
second-lowest total in the league this postseason behind Miami (12 points) in a
Game 3 loss to Boston in the first round.
Murray had a devil of a time doing anything productive against McDaniels and
the rest of the NBA-leading defense that snapped to life after revealing some
sizeable cracks over the previous three games.
Murray, who had a 3-for-18 clunker in Game 2, tried everything from leaners,
fadeaways and spot-up 3-pointers. He even air-balled a finger roll from the
baseline, then got backed down in a bad matchup by Naz Reid in the post on the
subsequent possession for a flip-in that put the Wolves up 43-24.
McDaniels tipped in a missed 3-pointer by Reid at the halftime buzzer to make
it 59-40, a sharp contrast from the 55-foot swish Murray had at the end of the
second quarter in Game 3 to cap an 8-0 run over 20 pivotal seconds of that
contest.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
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