Wolves force Game 7 with 45-point blowout of Nuggets

Anthony Edwards scored 27 points to lift the Minnesota Timberwolves out of a mid-series slump and deliver a faultless 115-70 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night, forcing a Game 7 in this nail-biting playoff clash. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the 45-point win is the greatest ever against a defending champion in playoff history, as well as the second-highest when facing elimination. Denver trailed by up to 50 points, their worst deficit in any game over the previous 25 seasons (regular season and playoffs).

Jaden McDaniels contributed 21 points and lockdown defence, while Mike Conley scored 13 points in his return from injury. Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz Reid combined for 38 rebounds and worked tirelessly to limit NBA MVP Nikola Jokic to a modest 22 points. The game to determine a position in the Western Conference finals will be played in Denver on Sunday night.

“They hit us first, they hit us second, and they hit us third,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Give them credit, they did what they needed to do to keep this series alive and bring it back to Denver for a game 7.

“Disappointing loss, anytime you get down by 50 in a playoff game. That’s never an enjoyable experience.”

History suggests Thursday night’s blowout loss doesn’t necessarily spell doom for Denver. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Nuggets are the fifth team in NBA history to lose Game 6 by 30 or more points to force a Game 7. Three of the previous four teams bounced back to win Game 7, most recently in 2018, when the Cleveland Cavaliers lost by 34 in Game 6 of the opening round against the Indiana Pacers before pulling out the series.

Jamal Murray struggled again with just 10 points on 4-for-18 shooting for the Nuggets, whose bench was outscored 36-9, and seven of those points came in the final five minutes. The Wolves reserves led a 24-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a staggering 49-point lead, a fitting follow-up to the 20-0 surge the starters led in the opening frame.

Aaron Gordon had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, who finished just 7-for-36 from 3-point range and trailed by at least 17 points for the last 31 minutes of the game.

“We have to go home and get back to playing the way we were when we won three games in a row,” Malone said. “I have no doubt we will be ready to do that come Sunday.”

For the Wolves, offense from McDaniels is typically a bonus, but he can’t be as quiet as he was over the first five games with a total of 35 points. He was all over the court Thursday night, going 3-of-5 from deep and mixing in some well-timed dunks to ignite the crowd.

Edwards, whose 44-point performance was ultimately wasted in a Game 4 loss the last time he played at Target Center, had that tenacious look of a superstar player refusing to cede the series. He had nine points in the 20-0 spurt and needed only nine shots from the floor to get 19 points in the first half.

In the third quarter, he turned a steal into a fast break before using two crossover dribbles to get Michael Porter Jr. in the air and blow by him for a dunk. A few minutes later, he drove past Porter to draw a foul and landed hard on his back. The Wolves called timeout to give Edwards more time to catch his breath, and when he walked back on the court without missing time the “MVP!” chants fired up.

As a fourth-quarter timeout signaled the start of empty-the-bench time, Edwards held up seven fingers to the adoring crowd in anticipation of what was coming next.

The Wolves were frequently in disarray on offense during Game 5 in Denver while Conley sat out with soreness in his right calf muscle, and the 17-year veteran point guard clearly helped keep the half-court sets crisp and organized in his return.

The Wolves held the Nuggets to 14 points in the first quarter, tied for the second-lowest total in the league this postseason behind Miami (12 points) in a Game 3 loss to Boston in the first round.

Murray had a devil of a time doing anything productive against McDaniels and the rest of the NBA-leading defense that snapped to life after revealing some sizeable cracks over the previous three games.