DENVER (AP) — A giant early deficit in Denver didn’t hassle the Minnesota Timberwolves, who two years in the past staged the most important Game 7 comeback in NBA historical past, clawing out of a 20-point gap to beat the Nuggets and advance to the Western Conference finals.
This time, they overcame a 19-point deficit, rallying past the Nuggets 119-114 on Monday night time behind 30 factors from Anthony Edwards and 24 from Julius Randle to tie their first-round playoff series at one recreation every.
“Just coming together, staying poised within those moments,” Edwards mentioned.
Jamal Murray scored 30 factors for Denver, which had received 13 straight video games since dropping on March 18. The Nuggets jumped out to a 44-25 lead early within the second quarter solely to see a possible laugher shortly flip right into a head-scratcher.
After outscoring the Wolves 39-25 within the first, the Nuggets watched Minnesota flip that actual rating within the second interval.
“So, basically same quarters, first and second, just opposite teams,” mentioned Nikola Jokic, who had 24 factors, 15 boards and eight assists for the Nuggets.
After a gradual begin, Edwards regarded a lot better than he did throughout his 22-point effort in Game 1, when his rust from a bum knee was obvious. This time, he drove to the basket extra as an alternative of settling for jumpers, fueling the comeback.
“He was awesome. It was unbelievable,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch mentioned. “Also in that (first) period when we were down, he was great on the bench. Great leadership, positive. He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.”
Denver blew an opportunity to take management in opposition to its Northwest Division rival. The Nuggets are 8-0 of their historical past when successful the primary two video games of a playoff series, and the Wolves are 0-8 when dropping Games 1 and 2.
Edwards turned the ball over with 31 seconds left and Christian Braun bought fouled at the opposite finish after Jokic handed up a floater to tie it. Braun missed one in all two free throws, leaving Denver trailing 115-114 with 19 seconds remaining.
Randle then sank two free throws and Donte DiVincenzo added a breakaway dunk to cap the comeback.
“I trust C.B. to make free throws,” Denver coach David Adelman mentioned. “It rimmed out. That happens in the NBA. You’re going to have moments that you don’t want to remember. That’s a tough moment for C.B. after playing such a good game.”
Murray sank a 51-foot 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to tie it at 64. Jokic got here on sturdy after a quiet begin, scoring 16 factors within the third quarter when Denver took a 93-90 lead. But the Nuggets’ All-Star duo shot a mixed 2 for 12 within the fourth quarter because the Wolves evened a best-of-seven series that shifts to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Thursday night time.
“I feel like we had the game in hand,” Murray mentioned, “and then we just didn’t make our shots.”
Jaden McDaniels, who added 14 factors for the Wolves, mentioned the important thing to Minnesota’s bounce-back was going “after Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders. Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team, just go at them. Yeah, they’re all bad defenders.”
Before tipoff, Finch complained for a third straight day concerning the free-throw disparity in Game 1, when the Nuggets outscored Minnesota 30-14 from the stripe. He cracked that possibly his gamers want to “start flopping, too.”
Each crew went to the road 30 instances Monday night time.
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