Timberwolves falter in final three minutes, lose lead and game to Nuggets

The shorthanded Timberwolves had played an admirable game for about 45 minutes in their 122-118 loss to the Nuggets.

Without Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, who missed the game because of right groin soreness, the Wolves were still ahead of the Nuggets 118-113 with 2 minutes, 51 seconds remaining.

The Wolves (22-24) got contributions up and down the lineup. Jaden McDaniels was playing one of his best two-way games of the season with 18 points and three blocks. Naz Reid and Luka Garza were doing their best to go to toe-to-toe with Nikola Jokic for 17 and 16 points, respectively.

But the Wolves wouldn't score again the rest of the way. Denver, playing for the second time in two nights, showed it has the ability to close teams out in its DNA. The Wolves need to figure that out.

The Wolves' possessions were an eyesore after going up five following a D'Angelo Russell (13 points) three-pointer. There was a McDaniels airball, one of his few misfires of the night, a bad pass out of bounds from Reid and then Russell clanging the side of the backboard for a shot-clock violation.

"Turnovers and just missed the wide open guy," coach Chris Finch told reporters in Denver of the offensive execution down the stretch. "The ball just didn't move cleanly. I thought there were tons of really good open guys out there. Then when we got some open shots we missed them. We had a couple right corner threes that we missed them."

Anthony Edwards, who faced double teams a good portion of the night, finished with 16 points on 17 shot attempts.

Jokic was his efficient self with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Jokic became the Nuggets' all time leader in assists, passing Alex English. The Wolves opted not to double Jokic and limit the number of three-point attempts the Nuggets took. They were 8-for-21 on the night.

"He's a great player and he certainly was very effective in the low block, but we were just going to throw as many bodies as we could," Finch said. "Wanted to stay away from giving them a lot of cheap threes. I thought we battled him. Thought we fouled him. I thought we battled and didn't foul him too."

The officials were whistle-happy, especially through the first three quarters. That led to foul trouble for several players, Jokic included, as he sat for stretches of the second and third quarters. The Wolves took advantage of those minutes Jokic was off the floor and won that time by 17 points. They lost the minutes Jokic was on the floor by 21, and Jokic was able to play the entire fourth without fouling out.

The Wolves weren't just missing Gobert. They were also down Austin Rivers, who was a scratch because of a left knee contusion. But lack of depth wasn't an issue on a night the Wolves had seven players reach double figures. Kyle Anderson chipped in 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Taurean Prince had 14 and Russell finished with 13 points and seven assists. The Wolves shot 52 percent from floor but had 19 turnovers, eight in the first quarter.

Their margin for error is small to begin with given the players they have out and number of games they've already lost. A win Wednesday would have been a big boost, now they come back to Minnesota having lost two straight with a game against Toronto awaiting Thursday on short rest.

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.