Anthony Edwards’s 43 points led Minnesota Timberwolves’ 106-99 home win over Denver Nuggets.

Anthony Edwards scored 43 points, Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 20 and the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves took home-court advantage from Denver with a 106-99 win over the Nuggets in Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal series.

Naz Reid scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, Mike Conley had 14 points and 10 assists and Rudy Gobert grabbed 13 rebounds for Minnesota, which pulled away to begin the postseason 5-0.

“They are defending champs, they’re a hard team to beat. Great team. They got great players,” Edwards said of the Nuggets.

“They got the best player in the league with Nikola Jokic, they got the best closer with Jamal Murray, the best 3-point shooter with Michael Porter Jr So, it is tough to beat this team.”

Game 2 is in Denver on Monday.

Anthony Edwards puts on a show and drops a playoff career-high to lift the @Timberwolves to the Game 1 win in Denver!

Karl-Anthony Towns: 20 PTS (8-13 FGM), 4 REB
Naz Reid: 16 PTS (14 in 4Q), 4 REB
Nikola Jokic: 32 PTS, 8 REB, 9 AST, 3 STL

Game 2: Monday, 10pm/et on TNT pic.twitter.com/iirmYPip3j

— NBA (@NBA) May 5, 2024

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Jokic had 32 points, Porter added 20 and Murray finished with 17, all in the second half, for the Nuggets, who are trailing in a playoff series for the first time since losing to the Golden State Warriors in the first round in 2022.

It was a tight game early in the fourth, but the Timberwolves were more poised down the stretch.

Conley hit his third 3-pointer of the game to give Minnesota an 80-77 lead, but Murray answered from deep and was fouled by Towns. He then proceeded to complete the four-point play.

Edwards, who had 25 points in the first half, hit a driving layup through traffic and a pullup 18-footer to put the Timberwolves back in front. Reid hit a pair of 3-pointers, converted a layup and dunked an Edwards miss to give Minnesota a 94-88 lead with 4:20 left.

Jokic converted a three-point play, but the Timberwolves then started to put the game away. Gobert made a layup and banked in a 13-footer and Edwards sank two free throws. Porter committed an offensive foul, and Edwards’ 14-foot fadeaway made it 102-91 with 1:36 left.

Jokic’s 3-pointer cut Denver’s deficit to 102-96 with 1:02 to go, but the Timberwolves closed it out.

Minnesota jumped out to an 18-4 lead with 5:12 left in the first quarter, but the Nuggets turned up the defence. They forced seven turnovers and held the Timberwolves to 22 points in the final 17 minutes of the first half to lead 44-40 at intermission.

Towns and Conley had 11 points apiece in the third quarter to help put Minnesota ahead 73-71 going into the fourth.

“An 18-4 start, so we get down early, fight like hell to take the lead at halftime, then we played no defense in the third,” Denver coach Michael Malone said.

“You can’t just trade baskets with that team.”

Joker in is comfort zone

For as good as Nikola Jokic is in the regular season, he is even better in the playoffs. He has the luxury of having fantastic players around him, but that is in large part because of how easy the Serbian makes the game. Taking nothing away from Aaron Gordon, or Michael Porter Jr. or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are are great players, but they are better players when Nikola Jokic is on the court. In the first round, he averaged 28.2 points, 16.2 rebound and 9.8 assists to lead the NBA in each category though one round. Against Minnesota, he is going to be going up against a two time Defensive Player of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz Reid as second and third defensive options. 

10th ranked/#1 seed Denver (15-3, 6-0) capped an undefeated BIG EAST regular season by winning the BIG EAST Tournament against #2 seed UConn,16-14. DU built a 9-1 lead but had to withstand a 4th-quarter tie with the Huskies to escape with the win and the BIG EAST title.

Denver reeled off five straight goals to open the first quarter of play. Caroline Colimore and Sloane Kipp scored for Denver in the first two minutes to race out to a quick lead. Julia Gilbert took a feed from Kipp to keep the run going at 10:33.  Four minutes later, Olivia Ripple found the back of the net for the Pioneers.  Kipp Sloane finished off the first-quarter scoring outburst in the final two minutes to build a 5-0 lead.

Denver followed the same recipe to start the second quarter when Ryan Dineen scored in the first minute. UConn’s Susan Lafountain finally broke the ice at 11:43 to temporarily stop the DU run. Denver responded with three straight goals by three different Pioneers – Jane Early, Gilbert and Kyra Obert to build a 9-1 lead.  Denver was coasting to the title, right? Wrong. In the final 5:11 before halftime, the Huskies woke up with three goals of their own by Kate Shaffer (free position), Shaffer again (man-up) and Madelyn George. The Huskies were chipping away at the massive deficit.

The teams traded goals in the third quarter with both scoring four goals. Denver opened the scoring three minutes into the period when Julia Gilbert found paydirt. UConn scored two minutes later but DU’s Jane Early responded to retain the five-goal edge, 10-5. UConn scored again at 7:13 but Caroline Colimore responded a minute later with a DU tally. Denver countered another Husky goal when Jane Early scored after a Denver draw control and feed a half minute after the UConn goal. Under a minute to go in the third period,  the Huskies Kate Shaffer scored to draw within five goals, 13-8.

Denver looked to be on cruise control heading into the final 15 minutes but UConn had other ideas. UConn started to chip away at DU’s five-goal lead. Abby Charron scored in the first minute to start the ball rolling for UConn. Less than a minute later, Caroline Colimore scored for Denver to regain the 5-goal margin. The Huskies then reeled off two straight goals at 10:16 and 9:16 to cut DU’s advantage to three goals as UConn started to gain momentum and confidence. In the final five minutes, the Huskies buried three more goals, a five-goal run in all, to knot the score 14-14. With under two minutes to go, Denver forced a turnover and called a timeout. The ball went into Ryan Dineen with a feed to Julia Gilbert who buried the shot, 15-14, with a minute to go. Gilbert, the hero of the game for DU, secured the draw control as DU took fouls and ran clock. Colimore added the icing on the cake with a goal as time expired for a final score 16-14.

DENVER SURVIVES. 😬@DU_WLAX scores twice in the final minute after @UConnWLAX pulled all the way back.

DENVER WINS THE @BIGEAST. pic.twitter.com/zB7UinIYNp

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) May 4, 2024

DU outshot the Huskies 28-18 along with only 7 turnovers to 17 for the Huskies. However, UConn was efficient in the offensive zone to make it a game. Colimore and Gilbert had four goals each. Sloane Kipp had two goals and six assists. Kate Shaffer had five goals and three assists to pace the Huskies.

The NCAA selection show is on Sunday at 7:00 pm MT when Denver will learn their NCAA seeding and opponent.