It wasn’t just another poor start or Anthony Edwards’ 43 points that irked Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone after the Minnesota Timberwolves thrashed the reigning NBA champions 106-99 in the first game of the second round on Saturday night. It was more about how the Nuggets let Edwards’ hot hand spark his supporting group, as the Wolves improved to 5-0 in the playoffs and placed the Nuggets into a series hole, something they never did last year when winning it all.
“Yeah, I was not concerned about the start. The score was 18-4. Jamal Murray didn’t practise this week and couldn’t make a shot. “I’m more concerned about our second-half defence,” said Malone, whose team will try to even the series Monday night in Game 2. “I think at one point they were shooting 90%” after halftime. The Timberwolves shot 73.7% in the third quarter, erasing a 44-40 halftime deficit and taking a 73-68 lead into the fourth quarter, when Minnesota continued to shoot well, hitting 13 of 19 attempts.
That’s 27 of 38 in the second half, for a 71% shooting percentage. “Naz Reid got going. Karl Anthony Towns got going. Mike Conley got rolling, whereas Anthony Edwards carried the day in the first half,” Malone explained. “But in the second half, I just didn’t feel like there was enough discipline and physicality, and they got whatever they wanted.
“Seventy-one percent in the second half of a playoff game is unacceptable.” Especially when Jamal Murray, the hero of Denver’s first-round victory against the Lakers, had no points at halftime — his first scoreless half in his 59th career playoff game — and finished with 17 points. Nikola Jokic finished with 32 points, while Michael Porter Jr. with 20. “It seemed like they made a lot of shots, especially the second half,” Jokic was quoted as saying. “Several of them were open. Some of them weren’t open. It’s part of basketball. We need to do a better job of making them work harder for the basket, such as making tougher shots or making one extra pass.
Edwards scored 25 of his 43 points in the first half, but he received little assistance from his teammates until they exited the locker room and couldn’t miss. “It’ll be a quick exit if we allow four guys to get off like that,” Malone went on to say. “So, Ant is going to have his. We can do a lot better job” with everyone else. Here’s how hot the Wolves became after halftime: Edwards was the only Minnesota player to miss more than one shot, and he went 7 for 12. It’s usually difficult to double Edwards and get the ball out of his possession. because the Wolves had a high-powered offence in which all five starters averaged double-digit points in their first-round sweep.
“I mean, any good team has multiple weapons,” Porter said. “One thing that makes us successful is when teams double Joker, we’ve got capable guys that can make shots” and make them pay.
“Similar with them. If you double ANT, he may be swinging the ball to KAT or Mike Conley or Jaden McDaniels, all capable guys. So, it’s definitely a balance and something we’ve got to look at on film.”
Be the first to comment