Super star Anthony Edwards left nothing to chance and punched the Denver Nuggets in the mouth Saturday. Edwards scored a career playoff-high 43 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves as they beat the Denver Nuggets 106-99 in Game 1 of their NBA Western Conference semi-final series. Denver fought back, but Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid delivered the final blow.
Hyped as the continued coming-out party for one of the game’s brightest young stars against the defending champs, Saturday’s contest lived up to and exceeded the billing. Both teams took their turn in the driver’s seat before the Timberwolves ultimately came out on top in a hard-fought win on the road to let the Nuggets know that they are here to stay.
Edwards got off to a red-hot start, putting up 16 first-quarter points, including 13 of the Timberwolves first 18, as they raced out to an 18-4 lead. The Nuggets responded, after having to burn two timeouts, with a 21-5 surge to close out the first quarter with a 25-23 lead.
From that point on it was a 90s-style slugfest with neither team giving an inch until a late Minnesota run sparked by Reid, who went on an individual run, scoring 10 straight Timberwolves points in the final frame, including a pair of triples, to put the Timberwolves up by six, 94-88.
The Nuggets never recovered as Minnesota held on down the stretch to shock the champion Nuggets and their fans in their own building, Ball Arena. The loss marks the first time since 2022 that the Nuggets have faced a bit of adversity and trailed in a playoff series since falling to the Golden State Warriors in the first round. They never faced the challenge of a series deficit in their run to the title last year.
As stated previously, Edwards finished with 43 points, marking his third straight playoff game with 35 or more. He stuffed the other areas of the stat sheet, adding seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. Edwards made an impressive 17 of 29 shots from the floor, while connecting on three of seven from downtown and sank all six of his free throws. Denver threw everything at him but the kitchen sink but nothing was effective.
“My team-mates trust me in every position in critical moments in the game. I try to come through for them,” said Edwards.
“It’s tough here. The altitude, their team, the crowd. I’m proud of my teammates. They came out and fought super-hard.”
Outside of a quiet 15-point effort in Game 2 against the Phoenix Suns, Edwards has been balling, scoring 33 or more points in four of Minnesota’s five playoff games this postseason. The Timberwolves improve to 5-0 in the playoffs after a first-round sweep of the Suns.
The night belonged to Edwards from the opening tip. He opened up the scoring with a contested 3 from the right wing with Denver’s top perimeter stopper, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, in tight coverage. Moments later, his and-1 floater in traffic increased the Minnesota lead to 9-0, and the Nuggets found themselves behind the eight ball early.
However, the Nuggets dug deep and found their championship metal to take a two-point advantage at the end of the period, thanks to nine points each from Nikola Jokić and Michael Porter Jr. Despite the first scoreless playoff half of Jamal Murray’s career, Denver took a 44-40 lead into the break.
Minnesota’s league-best defense stymied the Denver attack, but the Nuggets held the Timberwolves supporting cast in check throughout the first half. Edwards carried the offensive load on his back, racking up 25 of Minnesota’s 40 first-half points as the Timberwolves shot a frigid 36.3% from the field. His teammates joined the party in the second half while he continued to do plenty of damage of his own.
Edwards set the tone on defense early in the third quarter with a rejection of Porter that led to a transition and-1 dunk from Karl-Anthony Towns.
The game was tied at 84-84 before Minnesota went on an 18-7 run on the way to the W.
MVP front runner, Jokić led the Nuggets with 32 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and three steals, while shooting 11-of-25 from the field (44%), well below his season-long shooting rate of 58.3%, but he was also forced into a game-high seven turnovers. Porter scored 20 points, with six rebounds and three steals. Murray rallied from being shut out in the first half to post 17 points and four assists. But it was not enough as no other Nuggets player cracked double figures.
The next game of the best-of-seven-series will be on Monday in the ‘Mile High City’, Denver.
“There’s a lot we can clean up and get better at and we’re going to have to,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
“Played no defense in the third and you can’t just trade baskets with that team. There’s a lot that we’ll look at in the film and try and clean up.”
