Tale of two halves but same old story for Wolves in Game 2 loss
Jamal Murray #JamalMurray
Anthony Edwards and Jamal Murray shined bright, but Karl-Anthony Towns had another rough night.
It was a tale of two halves but ultimately the same old story for the Minnesota Timberwolves as they rose from the dead only to lose a heartbreaker and fall into an 0-2 hole in the best-of-seven series against the Denver Nuggets.
Minnesota was crushed in the first half, trailing by as many as 21 points and opening the third quarter down by 15. That’s when they refocused and made a game of it, outscoring Denver 40-23 in the third to take a 89-87 lead entering the final 12 minutes.
The fourth was a stage for the stars, namely Jamal Murray and Anthony Edwards trading big shots. Edwards buried a 3 to cut Denver’s lead to 115-109 with 2:11 to play, only to have Murray answer with a 3 just 24 seconds later, proving to be the third nail in Minnesota’s coffin.
The final nail was pounded in by Aaron Gordon on a lob dunk from Nikola Jokic with 73 seconds remaining.
Murray finished with 40 points and Edwards scored 41 for Minnesota, who got another rough night from Karl-Anthony Towns. The supermax big man had just 11 points on 5 of 15 shooting in Game 1 and he responded with 10 points on 3 of 12 shooting in Game 2. He had just two points in the first half and failed to score in the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was back and forth, starting with Michael Porter Jr. scoring eight straight points to put the Nuggets up 95-91. They traded blows before Porter struck again with a mid-range jumper to put the Nuggets up 108-101 with just over four minutes to play. Porter scored 13 of his 16 points in the fourth.
Up next: Game 3 in Minneapolis Friday at 8:30 p.m. CT.