DENVER — Now down 2-0 in a best-of-7 series, the Timberwolves are in a deep hole against the conference’s No. 1 seed.
But they’re not buried — not just yet. Because their 21-year-old guard showed he still has a pulse. And because of that, perhaps the Wolves still have a heartbeat.
On Edwards’ shoulders, Minnesota rallied from 21 points down in the first half to hold a fourth-quarter lead, before falling 122-113 to the Nuggets in Denver.
The series heads back to Minnesota for the next two bouts, with Game 3 set for Friday at Target Center. Minnesota will need a similar performance to the one it mustered in the third quarter Wednesday to extend the series beyond that.
And the Wolves will need plenty more from Edwards.
The guard scored 27 of his playoff career-high 41 points in the second half. Edwards buried six triples while scoring 10 more points in the paint. He hit a Michael Jordan-like baseline, turnaround fadeaway to put the Wolves back up by one point with seven minutes remaining.
After feeling like he took a backseat in Game 1, Edwards told his teammates Tuesday night that he was going to be “ultra-aggressive,” and was just that.
“We talked about having him need to be way more aggressive and get down hill and create opportunities to put multiple guys on him to open up the floor for others or get to the rim,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He was really, really good offensively tonight.”
Unfortunately for Minnesota, Edwards had a worthy adversary in Jamal Murray. The Denver guard was equally electric in his 40-point showing, which also featured six triples. Murray was a steady provider of production throughout the contest, but also delivered a couple haymakers on tough shots in the final frame to put Minnesota to bed.
“His shot making is tough. … He uses (Denver center Nikola Jokic) in so many different ways to get you off his body and at that point, it becomes like a 1-on-1. It’s a catch up game and he’s very talented at using his body, stepping back and getting to his spots to score,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “Big, strong physical guard. He’s just who he is. Some nights he’s going to be like that. He’s going to score big numbers and you just have to withstand it and try our best to hopefully shut that water off earlier, sooner. Because once he gets going, it’s tough.”
Murray also had some help. Michael Porter Jr. scored 13 in the fourth quarter, including an 8-0 run to start the frame while Edwards was on the bench. Jokic also contributed 27 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Meanwhile, Edwards’ co-star, Karl-Anthony Towns, scored just 10 points on 3 for 12 shooting while committing five turnovers.
But that Wednesday’s game evolved into that type of heavyweight bout between a pair of scintillating scorers was due to Minnesota’s elevated level of play in the second half of Game 2.
The Wolves were lucky to be down just 15 at the break, but there was nothing to suggest they’d be capable of overcoming any type of deficit. They looked like a team begging to be swept. In the first half, Minnesota was out-scored 19-3 in transition and 36-18 in the paint.
But the Timberwolves came out of the break with a different energy and commitment level on the defensive end.
They made life difficult on seemingly every Denver possession, forcing the Nuggets into one tough shot after another. The stops led to transition buckets. Minnesota went on a 14-0 run to not only get back into the game, but take the lead when a Murray turnover led to a Kyle Anderson fast break dunk.
The Wolves hung 40 points in the third frame while shooting 17 for 21 from the field.
“We were playing with a different kind of pace. Different kind of force. Obviously when we get stops, it definitely helps us. It allows us to get out and run in transition, try to beat them down the court,” Conley said. “But you saw a lot of actions where guys were cutting off the ball, bringing two guys in the paint and the guy with the ball is making the right read.
“Skipping the ball to the open man. We weren’t settling for a first-pass shot. We were going for a second drive. We had the lob to Rudy on one of those plays. Stuff like that we need more of. I think we saw that in the second half and we’ll keep building at the start of Game 3.”
It was a stark contrast from everything the Wolves did over the first six quarters of the series. Denver tallied 19 fast break points in the first half to Minnesota’s zero as the Timberwolves didn’t generate good offense and didn’t put enough emphasis into getting back in transition.
That type of basketball is a great recipe to get Minnesota swept. The brand of basketball it played in the second half can allow it to truly challenge the No. 1 seed with the series shifting back to Minneapolis.
“It gives us something to look at on film where we can say if we play this way, this is what the result can be. Turn a 15-point lead into us being up two. Just that kind of basketball needs to be played and needs to be,” Conley said. “When we go home tonight, be confident in that. Be confident in what we’re able to accomplish in the second half. Hope that we come out and start the game with it and we get four quarters of that kind of basketball, we can beat a lot of teams.”
“We found the series, we found the physicality that we needed,” Finch said. “(The Nuggets) did what they needed to do. They’re a championship-caliber team, they held serve on their home floor, and now we’ve got to go back and do the same.”
