Joker, Nuggets humiliate Timberwolves in Game 1 laugher
Minnesota is in an 0-1 hole in the best-of-seven playoff series after getting blown out of Ball Arena by the Denver Nuggets, 109-80 Sunday night in the Mile High City.
The Nuggets built an 11-point lead at the half and then blew Minnesota's doors off by outscoring them 32-14 in the third quarter, taking a 29-point lead into the final 12 minutes.
Nikola Jokic led a balanced Denver attack with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists before fouling out with Denver leading by 27 midway through the fourth quarter. Seven Denver players scored in double-figures and they shot
After review Jokic is assessed a flagrant foul penalty 1 for this play on Ant.#RaisedByWolves pic.twitter.com/OEJ5muDJDX
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) April 17, 2023
Everything was bad for the Wolves, who pulled starters from the game with more than six minutes to play..It was an especially rough night for Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds but only have four points entering the fourth quarter. He also had four turnovers.
Rudy Gobert was a team-worst minus-28, Mike Conley had just eight points and Taurean Prince went scoreless in 21 minutes off the bench.
Anthony Edwards led the Wolves with 18 points but he spent the bulk of the third quarter on the bench after picking up his fourth foul.
Minnesota shot 37% overall, 30.6% from 3 and a dismal 56.3% on free throws.
Game 2 is at 9 p.m. CT in Denver, with the game once again televised nationally on TNT and locally in Minnesota on Bally Sports North.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.