Anthony Edwards has scored 27 factors to tug Minnesota out of their mid-series hunch and ship a flawless 115-70 victory over Denver to pressure a Game 7 on this roller-coaster playoff matchup.
Jaden McDaniels pitched in 21 factors and Mike Conley had 13 factors in his return from harm on Thursday (Friday AEST). Big males Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid mixed for 38 rebounds and a relentless effort to maintain NBA MVP Nikola Jokic to a comparatively quiet 22 factors.
The decisive sport for a spot within the Western Conference finals is in Denver on Sunday (Monday AEST).
The Timberwolves posted the biggest profitable margin in a post-season sport since 2015, when Chicago beat Milwaukee by 54 factors in a first-round sequence clincher.
No defending champions have ever misplaced within the playoffs by greater than 36 factors till this flop by the Nuggets, who have been out-rebounded 62-43.
“That to me speaks volumes about the game and our approach,” Denver coach Mike Malone stated.
Jamal Murray struggled once more with simply 10 factors on 4-for-18 taking pictures for the Nuggets, whose bench was outscored 36-9 — and 7 of these factors got here within the closing 5 minutes. The Wolves reserves led a 24-0 run within the fourth quarter to take a staggering 49-point lead, a becoming follow-up to the 20-0 surge the starters led within the opening body.
For the hosts, McDaniels was everywhere in the court docket going three of 5 from deep and mixing in some well-timed dunks to ignite the gang.
Edwards, whose 44-point efficiency was in the end wasted in a Game 4 loss the final time he performed at Target Center, had that tenacious look of a famous person participant refusing to cede the sequence. He had 9 factors within the 20-0 spurt and wanted solely 9 photographs from the ground to get 19 factors within the first half.
In the third quarter, he turned a steal into a quick break earlier than utilizing two crossover dribbles to get Michael Porter Jr. within the air and blow by him for a dunk. A couple of minutes later, he drove previous Porter to attract a foul and landed laborious on his again. Minnesota referred to as timeout to offer Edwards extra time to catch his breath, and when he walked again on the court docket with out lacking time the “MVP!” chants fired up.
As a fourth-quarter timeout signalled the beginning of empty-the-bench time, Edwards helped up seven fingers to the adoring crowd in anticipation of what was coming subsequent.
“Guys just believing in themselves,” he stated.
“I think the last three games we were all down on ourselves.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
