Minnesota goes to Towns, big time
TIMBERWOLVES 112, NUGGETS 104 Center and Jimmy Butler show Denver the door in 4th
Jamal Murray sent the Pepsi Center crowd into cheers Wednesday night, converting a four-point play, tough finishes inside and shot after shot from beyond the arc.
But Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns sent the Nuggets faithful into oohs and aahs. Then Jimmy Butler delivered the knockout blow.
Towns and Butler took over in the fourth quarter for the Timberwolves, scoring a combined 22 points in the period to lift Minnesota to a 112-104 win over Denver.
The loss snaps the Nuggets’ eight-game home winning streak, which started Nov. 4. It also gives the Timberwolves a 1-0 edge over division-rival Denver before a quick rematch next Wednesday in Minneapolis.
“We talked about it going in— that’s what they do as a team. They turn people over. They score off those turnovers. It ignites their break. It allows them to score in the paint. We did an awful job of valuing the ball tonight, and that had a lot to do with us losing the game,” coach Michael Malone said. “When you’re beating yourself like we did tonight, that’s very frustrating and a tough one to swallow.”
The Timberwolves outscored Denver 32-20 in the fourth quarter.
Towns, who finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, had 11 points before five minutes had ticked off the clock in the period, including a thunderous dunk to tie the game 91-91.
Then Butler, who also scored 25, closed the deal. He drilled a 3 to give the Timberwolves a fourpoint lead with less than five minutes to play.
He sank two free throws to make it a two-possession game with less than two minutes left.
Then he nailed a pull-up jumper to increase that lead to six with less than a minute to play.
Murray, who finished with 30 points and sank five 3-pointers, kept answering. He scored 13 points in the frame, sinking a pullup jumper to break a 93-93 tie with about six minutes to play and finishing inside to cut Minnesota’s lead to 104-102 with about a minute left.
“Jamal’s offense kind of kept us in the game for a little while, which was great to see, but unfortunately we just, down the stretch, did not have enough to get that win,” said Malone.
Denver let double-digit leads slip away in both halves. The Nuggets built a 14-point third-quarter advantage primarily from beyond the arc.
The Nuggets sank 4-of-7 of its 3point attempts, including back-toback makes by Nikola Jokic and the four-point play from Murray.
Jokic put together a mixed performance in his return to the starting lineup following a sprained ankle, finishing with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists but 10 turnovers.
Trey Lyles scored all 15 of his points in the first half, while Mason Plumlee added 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Denver next hits the road again for a back-to-back set at Portland and Golden State on Friday and Saturday.