The Timberwolves got a playoff career-high 43 points from Anthony Edwards and 14 fourth quarter points from Naz Reid to steal Game 1 in Denver. Nikola Jokić had 32 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in the loss.
For the first time in 20 years, the Minnesota Timberwolves are playing in the second round of the NBA playoffs, this time against a familiar opponent, Northwest Division rival and defending champion Denver Nuggets.
This is the second straight postseason in which the two teams have met, with the Nuggets winning last year’s series in five games. The Timberwolves were without Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid for the entirety of the series along with losing Kyle Anderson to an eye injury in Game 4.
This year’s series is likely to be much more competitive with the Timberwolves completely healthy and the Nuggets’ bench thinner after the offseason departures of trusted veterans Bruce Brown and Jeff Green.
This series promises to be a heavyweight fight between two teams with aspirations of winning the championship. It’s the kind of series every NBA fan dreams of and one Timberwolves fans have been waiting a long time to see.
After tearing his patellar tendon at the end of the series with the Phoenix Suns, Wolves Head Coach Chris Finch was able to make the trip to Denver and was sitting in the second row behind the bench.
Chris Finch confirms that he will be on the bench for tonight’s Game 1.
He’ll be in 2nd row w/ no seat in front of him, next to TV broadcast table which will help provide some protection.
Asst. Micah Nori will be on the sidelines, run huddles & interact w/ the officials.
— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) May 4, 2024
The Timberwolves would pick up right where they left off at the end of the Suns series, going on an 18-4 run to start the game including 13 points from Anthony Edwards.
TOO EASY. pic.twitter.com/2oUjn8wLqE
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 4, 2024
The Wolves offense was consistently able to get good looks of offense against the Denver defense, leading to the big lead. The Nuggets would immediately respond with a run of their own. Spurred on by missed layups and turnovers by the Wolves.
Denver would finish the quarter on a 21-7 run, taking a two-point lead into the first quarter break.
One of the main keys to this series would be the minutes with Nikola Jokić on the bench for the Nuggets. With Denver’s short bench, they have struggled in the minutes with Jokić off the floor to start this season.
To start the second quarter, with Jokić on the bench, the Nuggets won those minutes by two points. If that continues throughout the series, the Timberwolves will have a hard time winning games.
Throughout the first half, the Timberwolves offense would struggle to score the ball when it wasn’t Ant or Karl-Anthony Towns taking the shot. Aside from Edwards and Towns, the Timberwolves finished the first half shooting 3-20 from the field including 0-8 from beyond the arc.
Minnesota would finish the first half with only 40 points, trailing the Nuggets by four heading into halftime.
Edwards would lead the Wolves with 25 points with Jokić leading the way for Denver. Notably, Jamal Murray would go scoreless in the first half, missing all five of his shots. It was the first time in his playoff career he went scoreless in a half.
Similar to the non-Jokić minutes, the Timberwolves bench will likely need to outperform the Nuggets’ bench to find success in this series. In this first half, the Nuggets bench outscored the Wolves bench 9-4.
Like he did in Games 3 and 4 on the road against the Suns, KAT would come out of the halftime locker room scorching hot, making his first five shots including a 3-pointer to start the half and this emphatic dunk coming off a block by Edwards.
Anthony Edwards incredible block, Karl-Anthony Towns transition poster dunk
Great two-way sequence, wow pic.twitter.com/tpDYkhyE3y
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) May 5, 2024
In the third quarter, turnovers would begin to mount up for the Wolves. They would finish the third frame with 12 total turnovers in the game, four in each quarter. Denver was able to score 20 points off those 12 giveaways, all of which were huge points given how difficult it is to score against the Timberwolves half-court defense — especially from downtown.
Minnesota would finally settle into the game, getting the ball back to Edwards, who continued to put the ball into the basket in a variety of ways in the mid-range and at the rim. The Wolves made a nice adjustment to get Rudy Gobert off the floor so Kyle Anderson would only be out there with one other big, which helped open up the floor for Edwards and spurred a 7-0 run.
I keep coming back to how pivotal of a micro-adjustment this was.
Wolves went from down 67-64 late third and zero spacing to quickly getting Ant space to work.
Resulted in an Ant mid-range J, open NAW corner 3 (AST by Ant), and an Ant layup at the rim. I love Slow-Mo at the 5 https://t.co/nGByUXZ6uh
— Jack Borman (@jrborman13) May 5, 2024
Anthony Edwards post-up fake + layup over Reggie Jackson pic.twitter.com/gocJJHd3mD
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) May 5, 2024
The Timberwolves would take a 73-71 lead heading into the final quarter of Game 1.
Jokić would again sit to start the fourth quarter, giving the Timberwolves a chance to stretch their lead leading into the final stretch of the game. The Wolves would fail to take advantage, again losing the non-Jokić minutes, this time by three points.
With Jokić back on the floor, Ant would continue his spectacular shot-making, including this scintillating shot over Aaron Gordon.
Anthony Edwards nasty crossover + midrange jumper, wow pic.twitter.com/zqLf9hBvuZ
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) May 5, 2024
For the second time this postseason for the Timberwolves, the game would come down to crunch-time with the Timberwolves leading 91-88 with 4:32 left in the game. Denver has shown to be the best late-game playoff team in the NBA, so the Timberwolves would need to play nearly perfectly to walk away with this one.
The Timberwolves would do just that, scoring 15 points over the final four and a half minutes of the game to cap off a 106-99 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals. Minnesota shot 71% from the floor in the second half, their best in a half in franchise postseason history.
Anthony Edwards would finish with an incredible 43 points — a new playoff career-high — on 17-29 shooting including 3-7 from deep, 6-6 from the line, seven rebounds, and three assists. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 points on an efficient 8-13 shooting, headlined by 11 points on 5/5 from the floor in the third quarter. Naz Reid scored 16, 14 of which in the fourth quarter, to give him a new playoff career-high (previously 13) as well.
Nikola Jokić led the way for the Nuggets with 32 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds. Jamal Murray scored 17 points after finishing the first half without a single point. Michael Porter Jr. provided 20 huge points on 4/7 from beyond the arc, leading the Nuggets’ 13/31 (41.9%) night from 3.
Despite Denver scoring 26 points off 14 Minnesota turnovers and the Wolves getting just five combined points from McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker on 2/13 FG (15%), the Wolves found a way just like they have all playoffs long.
Key Takeaways
Anthony Edwards’ Monster Playoffs Continue
After closing out the Phoenix Suns last Sunday with a 40-point performance, Anthony Edwards decided to one-up himself scoring 43 points and completely dominating a Nuggets team that seemed to have no answer for him on defense.
This has become a pattern for Edwards as each time he needs to hit another level, he does it and that was no different tonight. He made 3-pointers early, guarded Jamal Murray for stretches, made the mid-range shots the defense gave him, and then closed the game out by getting to the rim.
NO HESITATION. pic.twitter.com/VDIDD7niNT
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 5, 2024
Ant has catapulted himself from “up-and-coming star” to “I’m here right now” in seemingly the blink of an eye. While Jokić will be a deserving recipient of his third MVP award this year, Edwards was the best player on the floor tonight and it wasn’t particularly close.
With many of the Wolves role players playing poorly in the first half, Ant was able to keep the Wolves in it going into the second half. Once those role players started to hit shots, all it took was one last punch from Edwards to seal the victory.
Players that have scored 35+ in 3 straight playoff games at age 22 or younger:
1. Lew Alcindor
2. Kobe Bryant
3. LeBron James
4. Anthony Edwards pic.twitter.com/YS5jD45uZa— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) May 5, 2024
Non-Jokić Minutes
All year, the Nuggets have been vulnerable when Jokić is on the bench. They have been a negative in those minutes all year as they do not have much bench depth behind their starters.
The Timberwolves in their four regular-season matchups with the Nuggets failed to capitalize on those minutes, getting outscored by Denver with Jokić on the bench.
That was again the case tonight as the Timberwolves lost the minutes with Jokić on the bench by a total of five points. With the Wolves winning the game by seven, the Joker finished the game with a +/- of -12, his lowest in a playoff game since the Timberwolves defeated the Nuggets in Game 4 of last year’s first-round series.
Naz Reid
After struggling greatly through the first four and a half quarters of these Playoffs, Reid exploded with 14 fourth-quarter points. He would finish the game with 16 total, all of which came in the second half.
The 14 fourth-quarter points were more than any single game Reid had in the series against Phoenix and the 16 points is a playoff career-high.
Naz Reid monster putback dunk pic.twitter.com/mdoX1GA7Z5
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) May 5, 2024
The run of scoring from Reid was greatly needed as Towns picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, sending him to the bench. With Reid’s flurry of buckets, the Wolves lead ballooned from two points to six, setting up Edwards to take it the rest of the way.
After missing last postseason with a broken wrist, Reid became a clear X-factor with the playoff rematch set against Denver. Through three quarters of this one, it was looking like Naz was going to have another lost night on the court, but he was able to keep his composure and have the best quarter of basketball in his life.
Rotation
Up Next
The series resumes on Monday night for Game 2 in Denver at 9:00 PM CT with the Timberwolves looking to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. Fans can again watch the game on TNT or listen on the iHeartRadio app.