Anthony Edwards scored 27 factors to drag the Minnesota Timberwolves out of their mid-series hunch and ship a flawless 115-70 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday evening to pressure a Sport 7 on this roller-coaster playoff matchup.
Jaden McDaniels pitched in 21 factors and lockdown protection, and Mike Conley had 13 factors in his return from harm. Large males Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Cities and Naz Reid mixed for 38 rebounds and a relentless effort to maintain NBA MVP Nikola Jokic to a comparatively quiet 22 factors.
The decisive sport for a spot within the Western Convention finals is in Denver on Sunday evening.
Jamal Murray struggled once more with simply 10 factors on 4-for-18 capturing for the Nuggets, whose bench was outscored 36-9 — and 7 of these factors got here within the ultimate 5 minutes. The Wolves reserves led a 24-0 run within the fourth quarter to take a staggering 49-point lead, a becoming follow-up to the 20-0 surge the starters led within the opening body.
Aaron Gordon had 12 factors and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, who completed simply 7 for 36 from 3-point vary and trailed by a minimum of 17 factors for the final 31 minutes of the sport.
For the Wolves, offense from McDaniels is often a bonus, however he cannot be as quiet as he was over the primary 5 video games with a complete of 35 factors. He was all around the court docket this time, going 3 of 5 from deep and mixing in some well-timed dunks to ignite the gang.
Edwards, whose 44-point efficiency was finally wasted in a Sport 4 loss the final time he performed at Goal Heart, had that tenacious look of a famous person participant refusing to cede the sequence. He had 9 factors within the 20-0 spurt and wanted solely 9 pictures from the ground to get 19 factors within the first half.
Within the third quarter, he turned a steal into a quick break earlier than utilizing two crossover dribbles to get Michael Porter Jr. within the air and blow by him for a dunk. A couple of minutes later, he drove previous Porter to attract a foul and landed exhausting on his again. The Wolves known as timeout to offer Edwards extra time to catch his breath, and when he walked again on the court docket with out lacking time the “MVP!” chants fired up.
As a fourth-quarter timeout signaled the beginning of empty-the-bench time, Edwards helped up seven fingers to the adoring crowd in anticipation of what was coming subsequent.
The Wolves had been steadily in disarray on offense throughout Sport 5 in Denver whereas Conley sat out with soreness in his proper calf muscle, and the 17-year veteran level guard clearly helped preserve the half-court units crisp and arranged in his return.
The Wolves held the Nuggets to 14 factors within the first quarter, tied for the second-lowest whole within the league this postseason behind Miami (12 factors) in a Sport 3 loss to Boston within the first spherical.
Murray had a satan of a time doing something productive towards McDaniels and the remainder of the NBA-leading protection that snapped to life after revealing some sizeable cracks over the earlier three video games.
Murray, who had a 3-for-18 clunker in Sport 2, tried every little thing from leaners, fadeaways and spot-up 3-pointers. He even air-balled a finger roll from the baseline, then acquired backed down in a foul matchup by Naz Reid within the publish on the next possession for a flip-in that put the Wolves up 43-24.
McDaniels tipped in a missed 3-pointer by Reid on the halftime buzzer to make it 59-40, a pointy distinction from the 55-foot swish Murray had on the finish of the second quarter in Sport 3 to cap an 8-0 run over 20 pivotal seconds of that contest.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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