MINNEAPOLIS – The ice in Anthony Edwards’ veins got colder than a Minnesota deep freeze.
Edwards’ gut-check 3-pointer, with 11 seconds left in overtime Sunday night, saved Minnesota’s season and extended this first-round series, at least, for one more game.
The Timberwolves rode Edwards’ 34 points for a pulsating 114-108 win in Game 4, forcing this series back to Denver for Tuesday’s Game 5. Perhaps there, where the Nuggets have dominated opponents all season, Denver will punch its ticket to the second round.
“We didn’t play any defense,” a dejected Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Minnesota was up 12 points with less than three minutes left in regulation when Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. refused to quit. Together, they rode a storm of 3-pointers to force overtime. But in the extra session, the T-Wolves outscored Denver 18-12 to stave off elimination.
“I didn’t think we were going to go undefeated the whole postseason,” Malone said.
Jokic poured in 43 points and snatched 11 rebounds in a seismic effort that didn’t yield the win Denver wanted. Jamal Murray struggled, shooting 8 for 21 from the field with 19 points.
But Edwards, whose slashing drives and clutch jumpers stoked a raucous crowd, wasn’t ready to head into the offseason.
An optimistic “Wolves in 7” chant broke out after the Game 4 buzzer sounded.
When the Wolves showed Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark on the big screen early in the third quarter, it was, to that point, the loudest the Target Center had been all game. That changed once Edwards took over. With devastating jumpers and scintillating drives, he had Wolves fans hanging on his every move. His brilliance was met, bucket for bucket, by Jokic.
Denver’s superstar turned ultra-aggressive, hunting for any opening he could find. Jokic hit two quick 3-pointers, then in an apparent heat check, buried another from the top of the arc. He dropped 15 in the quarter, one shy of Edwards’ total. Minnesota’s sparkplug jolted the home crowd to life and spearheaded an 80-74 T-Wolves lead heading into the fourth.
Malone emphasized that whatever desperation his team played with in Game 3, they needed to ratchet it up another degree on Sunday night given Minnesota’s urgency.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” Malone said prior to the game.
Within minutes of tip-off, it was painfully apparent how much more physical the Timberwolves intended to play. When Towns crashed into Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, without a whistle, it set a physical tone for the rest of the game.
“I’m sure they’re going to throw the kitchen sink at us,” Malone said of his expectations.
At Sunday’s shootaround, Caldwell-Pope admitted he’s been more vocal since the playoffs started. This, after all, was the reason the Nuggets traded for him last offseason.
“(My voice) has gotten a little louder,” he said. “… We set a goal to get a championship. We want to keep that mindset.”
Despite a choppy first half, Denver maintained a 52-48 lead at the break. Jokic played just 14 minutes due to foul trouble, but registered 14 points in that stretch, playing aggressive and through the guts of Minnesota’s defense.
In his stead, his teammates picked up the slack. Murray, a mid-range assassin, drained a handful of difficult looks for 12 first-half points. Gordon was a menace, too. He hammered three dunks within the first few minutes of the second quarter, reinforcing that Denver was deeper than its superstar center.
Porter’s aggression was apparent, too, and contributed to Denver’s 30 points in the paint over the first two quarters.
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