When you open a playoff series in enemy territory, the goal is usually to split the first two games. Doing so removes the opponent’s home-court advantage and allows you to go back home with the series tied 1-1 or with a favorable 2-0 lead.
Winning the first two games on the road to open a playoff series is daunting, so most teams are content with picking up a win by splitting the first two games. However, that isn’t true for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who entered Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets Monday night with a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals and aspired to return to the Twin Cities up 2-0.
“It is saying hungry,” Chris Finch said during a media scrum Sunday afternoon. “We still have a ton to prove. [The Nuggets] are an outstanding team, a championship-caliber team, of course. They aren’t going to be panicked, they are going to make their adjustments. They know what [Game 2] means for them. We’ve got to punch first, take their punch, and punch again. That has been our recipe right now. We didn’t come here to win just one game; we came here to win a series. We need four wins, and we need to get them as quickly as we possibly can.”
The Timberwolves won Game 1 106-99 in a hard-fought, wire-to-wire series opener, keeping their postseason record an immaculate 5-0. Minnesota landed the first punch, going up 18-4 with 5:12 left in the first quarter. As a rebuttal, Denver went on a 21-5 run to close the frame and outscored the Wolves by two in the second quarter, owning a four-point lead at halftime.
Minnesota landed most of the punches in the second half, outscoring the Nuggets 66-55. Karl-Anthony Towns and Mike Conley combined for 21 points on 9 of 9 from the floor, and Naz Reid recorded 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting in the fourth quarter.
“Forty-eight minutes,” responded Michael Malone when asked after Game 1 what it will take to beat the Wolves consistently. “You can’t play a half of basketball in the Western Conference Semifinals. [The Wolves] are a very talented team. I said it all week long, and I’ll continue to say it: There is a reason they were in first place the large majority of the season. Give them credit. They came in here and took Game 1. There is a lot we can clean up and get better at. We are going to have to so we can try to tie this series up going back to Minnesota after Game 2.”
The playoffs are a battle of adjustments, and the Wolves had to alter their game plan unexpectedly ahead of Game 2.
About nine hours before tipoff, the Wolves listed Rudy Gobert as questionable because his girlfriend Julia Bonilla gave birth to their baby boy Monday morning. There was speculation leading up to tipoff regarding his availability. However, Finch told the media before the game that Gobert was out because he wouldn’t be at Ball Arena in time for tip-off.
Before crew chief Mark Davis even tossed the ball in the air for tipoff, the Wolves faced an uphill battle – they were going up against the best center in the NBA without their best defender, who’s in line to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award on Tuesday.
Expectedly, the Nuggets force-fed the ball to Nikola Jokić immediately in Game 2. On Denver’s first offensive possession, he engaged in a pick-and-roll with his frontcourt counterpart Aaron Gordon. Kyle Anderson started in place of Gobert and switched onto Jokić. After a few back-down dribbles, the Joker snapped the ball inside to Gordon for the 3-foot hook shot.
Denver usually loves the 4-5 PnR, and it felt as if we would see much more of that play without Gobert roaming around the paint.
With 6:49 left in the first quarter, Jokić had touched the ball in the paint or outside on every possession for the Nuggets. As the scorer and passer, he was responsible for six of his team’s first eight points.
“The big men are controlling early,” said Kevin Harlan on the TNT broadcast.
On the other side of the timeline, Towns racked up 11 points on 5 of 6 from the floor and 1 of 2 from deep through his first nine minutes. He was handling Gordon’s aggressive pressure much better than in the first half of Game 1, where he had 9 points on 3 of 7 from the floor in 18:41 minutes.
The Wolves ended the first quarter on a 6-2 run once Towns took a seat on the bench with 3:21 left in the frame. Four of those points came from Minnesota’s bench, which scored seven points in 12 minutes, three more than they had in the entire first half in Game 1.
Minnesota took a 28-20 lead into the second quarter. The Wolves and Denver played at a frenetic pace early, which favored the Wolves significantly because they thrive in chaos. The Nuggets lost some composure because of the whistle – reminiscent of the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of Minnesota’s first-round series.
“We are a calm team,” Conley told TNT between frames. “We play with a great flow.”
In the playoffs, the team that plays under control usually comes out on top and dominates individual quarters. Through the first 2:39 minutes of the second quarter, the Wolves jumped out to a quick 7-0 start, building on an extended 15-3 run.
Murray started the frame on the floor with Jokić on the bench. He must find a groove while playing with the bench. Unfortunately for him, Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were both on defense. Jamal had three straight misses, with the Wolves consistently putting him into a straight jacket before he got to the three-point line.
Finch talked about landing the first punch and weathering Denver’s blows as the game went on. But the Wolves led by 24 points with 3:24 left in the first half. Many were waiting for the Nuggets to punch back. However, Minnesota’s defense didn’t allow that.
Murray was 1 of 9 from the floor with two points through his first 13 minutes. More importantly, Jokić had only six points on 3 of 5 from the floor after recording 15 points in the first half of Game 1. Minnesota’s perimeter defense was stifling, spearheaded by the efforts of McDaniels, Edwards, and Alexander-Walker. Their incredible work from outside took away many of the Joker’s inside touches, which is the best way to mitigate Gobert’s absence.
With 29 seconds remaining in the first half, Conley stripped the ball away from Michael Porter Jr. as he cut to the basket. Conley flipped the ball ahead to Edwards, who threw down an explosive dunk that gave the Wolves a 28-point lead – sucking all the remaining life out of the already deflated Ball Arena crowd. Instead of watching the slam, Minnesota Mike turned around and flexed at his teammates on the bench. His steal resulted in a dunk, but he also forced the Nuggets into their ninth turnover, a microcosm of the first half.
The first 24 minutes were a total Wolves beatdown. Edwards and Towns combined for 36 points, more than the Nuggets as a whole. Minnesota led 61-35, the largest halftime lead in a playoff game since May 21, 1992.
Even without the new father and soon-to-be DPOY, Minnesota continued looking like the team to beat in the playoffs. That’s ironic because just over three weeks ago, many fans wrote the team off the wall after the Wolves’ Game 82 loss against the Suns.
Coming out of halftime, the Nuggets needed to deliver a rebuttal. However, they didn’t. The Wolves opened the third on a 12-6 run, which was capped off by a NAW corner triple that forced Malone to call another timeout to stop Minnesota’s momentum.
The Wolves led 73-41 with 7:19 minutes left in the third. Minnesota was playing the defending champs off their homecourt on both ends. Its defense, which was incredible all regular season long, wasn’t letting up. However, the offense was also dialed in.
The Nuggets closed the final 4:11 on a 10-2 run, but they still trailed by 22 heading into the final period. Reid was responsible for the lone make in that stretch, bouncing his totals up to 14 points (more than Denver’s entire bench) on 5 of 12 from the floor and 4 of 7 from deep. All game long, he was a consistent force on both ends. The shot-making and points will stick out in the boxscore, but he was also incredibly physical against Jokić in the paint.
Minnesota made the Joker incredibly uncomfortable in Game 1. It didn’t seem likely they could repeat that in Game 2 without Gobert in the mix. However, Reid’s physicality, ability to block shots, and the lock-down perimeter defense made it easy to forget Rudy wasn’t playing.
With 5:54 left in the game, Edwards sifted his way into the lane, drew contact, and converted the layup, putting the Wolves up 95-70 and giving him 25 points. As Ant stepped to the free-throw line, MVP chants rained down from the Minnesota fans in attendance with Denver fans filing out of the nearest exits.
Edwards followed up that sequence with a side-step triple, then shrugged his shoulders like a certain all-time great.
After that, Timberwolves at Ball Arena chanted “WOLVES IN 4” and Luka Garza, Josh Minott, and Wendell Moore Jr. scored a few buckets in garbage time.
The Wolves cruised to a 106-80 win.
For the first time since 2020, a team has opened the playoffs 6-0, and that team is the Timberwolves. They swept the Suns and now have a 2-0 lead over the Nuggets before the series shifts back to the Twin Cities for Games 3 and 4. Minnesota’s defense has led them all season long, and that didn’t falter in Game 4, even though the Wolves were without their best defender.
“Rudy has driven a defensive culture here,” said Finch postgame. “It’s a testament to his impact, presence, and what he’s infused into the team on how important defense is and how great we can be when we play it. That aside, we always expect to win no matter who is with us or is not. Our guys truly believe it. We are very, very, very, very happy for Rudy and [his teammates] feel that way, but they are ready to go.”
Even though he didn’t play, you could feel Gobert’s impact. Many pundits scoffed at Tim Connelly and his staff when they traded for the Stifle Tower two years ago. But now, his impact is showing up in playoff games where he isn’t even in the same city as his team.
“Today, we were at another level,” Reid told Michael Grady postgame. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen us at that level. I’m definitely excited, and I’ll definitely take it, but I think we have another level to our abilities, so let’s keep it going.”
Reid logged 29 minutes, six more than he did in Game 1. During his prolonged playing time and while handling a more significant role, the beloved fan favorite recorded 14 points and five rebounds on 5 of 14 from the floor and 4 of 8 from deep while being a +9. He also had four blocks, one off his career-high and the most for a Wolves player off the bench in franchise history.
“I was just trying to do whatever I could in any way, shape, or form,” Reid explained after Game 2. “I am just attacking the rim, blocking shots, getting steals, diving on the floor, or getting rebounds. I don’t care what it is; I’m going to do it.”
The Wolves held Denver to its lowest-scoring total of the season (80). It was a collective effort that began with stifling perimeter defense and ended with Minnesota’s big men patrolling the paint effectively while staying out of foul trouble in a full-circle moment that encapsulated what the team has done all season long.
As the Wolves gear up for two straight in front of their home crowd, the Nuggets find themselves in a horrible position. They’re down 0-2 after being the team with homecourt advantage. It’s do-or-die time headed into Game 3 on Friday night.
“A loss like this is tough,” Malone told the media after Game 2. “You feel embarrassed, and you feel exposed, so what are you going to do about it? That’s my biggest thing. What are you going to do about it? Look at yourself in the mirror. Have the balls, have the courage to look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I did not do my job tonight.’”
