Wolves win Game 2
- The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets in Game 2, evening the opening series momentum. (usatoday.com) - The key moment: Minnesota outlasted Denver after Denver had taken Game 1, shifting the series storyline. (usatoday.com) - The win immediately added tension to a first-round matchup that had looked settled after Game 1. (usatoday.com)
Minnesota beat Denver 119-114 on Monday night, wiping out the Nuggets’ early edge in the series and sending the matchup to Minnesota tied 1-1. (espn.com) The Timberwolves trailed 39-25 after the first quarter at Ball Arena, then flipped the game with a 39-point second quarter and closed with a 29-21 fourth. Anthony Edwards scored 30 points, Julius Randle added 24, and Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. (espn.com) (basketball-reference.com) Denver got 30 points from Jamal Murray and 15 rebounds with eight assists from Nikola Jokic, but the Nuggets were outscored 94-75 after the opening quarter. Minnesota finished 14-for-34 from 3-point range and had 30 assists on 43 field goals. (espn.com) (basketball-reference.com) That changed the shape of a series Denver seemed to control two days earlier. The Nuggets won Game 1, 116-105, on April 18 behind Murray’s 30 points and a Jokic triple-double, taking a 1-0 lead at home. (espn.com) (nba.com) Minnesota’s response mattered because Denver entered as the West’s No. 3 seed at 54-28, while the Timberwolves arrived as the No. 6 seed at 49-33. By splitting the first two games in Denver, the Timberwolves took home-court advantage away before the series moved to Minneapolis. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) The comeback also fit Minnesota’s recent history in this matchup. ESPN’s game recap noted the Timberwolves had already erased a 20-point deficit in Denver in a Game 7 two years earlier on their way to the Western Conference finals. (espn.com) Game 2 turned on depth as much as stars. Bones Hyland scored 13 points in under 10 minutes, Ayo Dosunmu added nine with five assists, and DiVincenzo posted a team-best plus-20 in 30 minutes. (basketball-reference.com) Instead of a 2-0 Denver lead, the series leaves Colorado even. Minnesota got the split it needed, and Denver now heads to Minneapolis without the cushion it built in Game 1. (espn.com)
