DENVER (AP) — Anthony Edwards overcame a sluggish begin and the Timberwolves roared again from a 20-point second-half deficit to get rid of the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets 98-90 in a Sport 7 Minnesota masterpiece on Sunday night time.
The Timberwolves overcame a 15-point halftime deficit — the most important comeback in a Sport 7 in NBA playoff historical past — behind Edwards, who had simply 4 factors, no rebounds and three assists at halftime however completed with 16 factors, eight boards and 7 assists.
His affect belied his 6-of-24 capturing that included a 2-for-10 3-point efficiency.
“It was powerful, man, as a result of I couldn’t discover myself, my rhythm tonight,” Edwards mentioned. “So I simply needed to belief my teammates. … I simply needed to make the appropriate performs all through the remainder of the sport. I did that and my teammates made pictures. Large shout-out to these guys.”
As Minnesota took management late, time and again Edwards denied Jamal Murray, who had 24 factors by halftime and completed with 35.
“There’s extra methods to win the basketball recreation while you’re simply not an offensive participant,” Edwards mentioned. “I’m not one-dimensional. I’m not only a man who can rating. I’m a man who — whoever their greatest guard is, I can go lock him down. I really feel like I did that on Jamal within the fourth quarter — within the third quarter and fourth quarter — and that’s what turned the sport round.”
Because the seconds ticked away, Edwards dribbled the ball upcourt and took time to wave goodbye to the shocked crowd at Ball Enviornment, the place the Nuggets’ 33-8 report this season was second-best within the league however the place the Wolves gained thrice this collection.
The Wolves, who acquired 23 factors every from Karl-Anthony Cities and Jaden McDaniels, superior to the Western Convention finals for the primary time in precisely 20 years. They’ll face the Dallas Mavericks starting Wednesday night time at Goal Middle.
“It feels nice,” Wolves heart Rudy Gobert mentioned. “Beating a staff like they’re, an unbelievable staff, a championship staff, with the most effective participant on this planet, it feels good.
Behind Murray’s improbable begin, the Nuggets raced to a 53-38 halftime lead and Murray’s 3-pointer with 10:50 left within the third pushed Denver’s result in 58-38.
The Wolves turned to their protection, the NBA’s stingiest, to get again into the sport, and so they closed the quarter on a 28-9 run to tug to 67-66 heading into the fourth.
Gobert gave the Wolves their first lead because the first quarter with a bucket to start out the fourth and when Cities picked up his fifth foul, Naz Reid, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Yr, was spectacular at each ends of the ground to maintain Minnesota forward.
In a single essential stretch that began with Minnesota forward 85-82, Reid had two free throws and a dunk earlier than feeding Edwards for a back-breaking 3-pointer that put the Wolves forward 92-82 with three minutes left.
Murray, coming off a 4-for-18 capturing efficiency within the Nuggets’ 115-70 loss in Sport 6 — the most important ever within the playoffs by a reigning champion — made 13 of 27 pictures for 35 factors. Jokic added 34 factors to go along with 19 rebounds however the duo acquired little assist as no different Denver gamers reached double figures in factors.
“A lot was being positioned on their shoulders,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone mentioned. “We’re anticipating Jokic and Jamal to proceed pulling rabbits out of their hat, man, and any individual else has acquired to present some assist.”
This marked the Timberwolves’ first Sport 7 since beating Sacramento within the second spherical precisely 20 years earlier. That’s the one different time they reached the convention finals. The Nuggets have been enjoying of their fifth Sport 7 within the final six seasons and have been searching for their third journey to the convention finals in that span.
“That was a hell of a collection,” Malone mentioned. “They gave us all we might deal with and so they ended up successful Sport 7 on our dwelling court docket, which is a troublesome one to swallow. However we’ll be again.”
The Nuggets turned the fifth consecutive defending champion to fail to succeed in the convention finals. The final one to do it was Golden State in 2019 when the Warriors reached the NBA Finals solely to lose to Toronto.
“The one factor I carry on going again to proper now could be I think about the San Antonio Spurs a dynasty and so they by no means gained back-to-back,” Malone mentioned. “So dropping, the harm of it, the ache of it, it helped us win our first championship. Can we use this 12 months?”
Murray thinks so.
“For certain,” he mentioned. “It’s again to being the hunter.”
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AP NBA:
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