For the Wolves, the third time was the charm Wednesday night.
After two tightly contested quarters, Minnesota blew the roof off Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., outscoring the Nuggets 29-16 in the third quarter en route to a 105-88 victory.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Shabazz Muhammad paced the Wolves (2-1) with 18 points each, and Towns added eight rebounds. Wilson Chandler was the Nuggets' leading scorer with 16 points.
Zach LaVine (12), Nemanja Bjelica (11) and Gorgui Dieng (10) joined the trio of 18-point scorers in double figures.
The Nuggets (2-2) outrebounded the Wolves 45-42, but Minnesota was much more efficient from beyond the arc — hitting 47.4 percent (9-for-19) of its threes compared to Denver's 15 percent (3-for-20).
Ricky Rubio had seven points, eight assists and four steals in 25 minutes. In 18 minutes, his backup, rookie Kris Dunn struggled offensively — he scored two points while shooting 1-for-7 — with four assists, two rebounds and two turnovers.
Minnesota shot 38 free throws in the game, and 31 of those came in the first half — the team record for free throws attempted in a half is 38.
Before the game, Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau discussed the challenges of spreading minutes around to ensure everyone is ready for the regular season — regardless of role on the team. And on Wednesday, no Wolves starter played more than 28 minutes and five bench players played at least 16 minutes.
The Wolves' next preseason game is Saturday vs. the Miami Heat in Louisville. It's the team's second to last preseason tilt before they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Oct. 19 in the season opener.
