Nuggets 132, Wolves 126: Is There Such Thing As A Moral Victory?

The Wolves ran their reserves in a diligent effort against a full strength Nuggets squad.

You never really want to call a game a “mail-in”, so I’ll frame heading into Thursday night at Target Center as a high-effort game that would give the Wolves an extended look at the younger players on their roster that they typically don’t, or won’t see during the regular season.

It wasn’t supposed to set up as an exhibition back-to-back coming off of a Wednesday game in Chicago in which essentially the entire starting rotation played. But due to the success of the Finals-entrenched Minnesota Lynx, a scheduling audible was called and we found a platoon of younger guys absorbing the back-to-back minutes.

It was a slightly different story for Denver. The Nuggets shaped up a formidable measuring stuck for the Wolves’ younger players, and ran their typical rotation.

Were they going 100 percent? Perhaps not. Nikola Jokic had two field goal attempts at halftime to pair with a couple turnovers. He had absolutely zero interest in scoring. He just wanted to pass.

Until things started to get real in the third quarter.

With just a minute left, it was a narrow 90-89 scoreboard in favor of the Nuggets. They were playing sloppy basketball, committing turnovers left and right (16 at the end of the third) and a Wolves team with fresh legs pounced on its opportunities.

In the end, the expected result happened and the Nuggets pulled away for a six point win; but for three quarters, we got a much more entertaining game than expected.

That said, can we get StatMuse to pull what Jokic’s offensive stats were with Luka Garza guarding him? (I’m only mostly kidding).

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Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Luka Magic

Preseason Garza struck again.

The difference year over year is how refined you can tell Luka Garza’s game has become. He’s a bucket. He finished with 29 points on an efficient 11-17 night from the field.

He also, as usual, had the motor going under the basket and getting up and down the floor. It was nothing new for anyone who has seen him play before, including Head Coach Chris Finch.

“Luka only knows one way to play. Gives you everything he’s got,” he said.

While Nikola Jokic probably could have and chose not to score on him at will, he still moved his feet well and and overall moves better than he did in previous seasons, which he mentioned after the game was an area of emphasis for him.

Will this be the year we see more Garza? Likely not. The depth chart logjam persists. At some point though, it would be interesting to see him move into a role similar to a more skilled Jonas Jerebko.

You might gasp at that, but Jerebko had a long NBA career of consistent minutes as a bigger guy that can shoot off the bench and spot points when needed. Just a thought.

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Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images

First Round Showcase

Given the nature of the starting five, Wolves fans were going to get a heavy dose of their two first round picks. Nothing about the performance left you encouraged, but nothing should have left you discouraged either.

There just wasn’t a lot of consistency, especially when it came to Rob Dillingham, who picked up four fouls in his first nine minutes of action, but would go on to score 12 points in the second half.

It’s a microcosm of what Dillingham has shown since Summer League. One minute, he looks like a bonafide sixth man, torching defenses with his pick and roll maneuverability and scoring prowess.

The next, he’s getting shoved around and taking tough shots.

“For him, he’s got to understand the purpose of how he plays,” Finch said. “He’s searching a hard road right now, trying to get himself going too hard right now.”

As for Shannon, he finished the first half with eight points and finished the game with nine. He disappeared a bit in the second half and the long range jumper looks to firmly be a work in progress. He couldn’t connect on any of his four long range attempts.

But man, is he ever bouncy and aggressive on offense. That makes him incredibly fun to watch, and he’s capable of detonating at any time.

Similar to Garza but to a lesser degree, he’s also in a depth chart logjam and would otherwise get rotation minutes on other teams. For this season, that may not be bad thing with how inconsistent his shot is as a wing.

Moving forward, I would be curious to see how he develops out and just how quickly he becomes a player that you can’t keep out of the rotation if the three ball comes around.

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Highlights

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Up Next

Finally, the regular season. The Wolves will kick things off on Tuesday, 10/22 under the lights of La La Land, as they be in California to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on TNT. Tipoff is slated for 9:00PM CT.