Anthony Edwards posted 30 points and 10 rebounds, Donte DiVincenzo hit a clutch 3-pointer with 1:05 left, and the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat the Denver Nuggets 119-114 in Game 2 to level their playoff series on Monday.
Julius Randle had 24 points and nine rebounds and hit two free throws with 18.8 seconds left to help Minnesota even the Western Conference quarterfinal matchup.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Minneapolis.
“It’s 1-1. There’s no driver’s seat,” said Edwards. “We’re going home, we’ve got an advantage at home. Hopefully our fans rattle them when they come to our crib. We’ll be ready.”
DiVincenzo finished with 16 points, Jaden McDaniels had 14 points, Bones Hyland contributed 13 and Naz Reid 11 for the Timberwolves.
Jamal Murray had 30 points for the second straight game and Nikola Jokic added 24 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, but both struggled in the fourth quarter, combining to shoot 2-for-12.
Christian Braun and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 16 points apiece and Cameron Johnson scored 13 for Denver, which lost for the first time since March 18. The Nuggets won their last 12 regular-season games and their postseason opener.
“We lost this game on second-chance points,” said Denver coach David Adelman, whose Nuggets were outscored 20-3 on second-chance points. “Every time we had control of this game we gave up a free throw rebound, a really soft crash in the corner. In a hard-fought game like that, where you work so hard to get a stop and then just give up second-chance points, it kept them in the game. Every time we made a run I felt like that’s what stopped the run, and we have to clean that up.”
Bruce Brown hit two 3-pointers to give the Nuggets a five-point lead early in the fourth. Randle’s two free throws cut it to 105-104 in the middle of the period, but Braun answered with a running dunk to force a Timberwolves timeout. Minnesota scored the next three buckets to go ahead 110-107 with 4:06 left.
Braun split a pair of free throws before Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert had a putback slam. Gordon hit a 3-pointer to slice Denver’s deficit to one, but DiVincenzo answered from deep. Jokic made a driving dunk to bring the Nuggets within two, and Edwards traveled with 30.6 seconds remaining.
Braun went 1-for-2 from the line to cut it to 115-114 with 19.1 seconds left. Randle hit two free throws, Murray missed a jumper and DiVincenzo sealed it with a dunk.
Denver led 44-25 early in the second quarter, but the Timberwolves went on a long surge to lead 64-56. The Nuggets scored the final eight points of the half, the last on Murray’s 51-foot heave at the horn, to tie it at intermission.
“We had a great first quarter,” Adelman said. “They had a great second quarter, and the game basically restarted from there.”
Jokic went 4-for-7 from the field in the third quarter while hitting all seven of his free-throw attempts, with his 16 points giving the Nuggets a 93-90 lead heading into the fourth.
–Field Level Media
