Series even as Timberwolves drop Game 4 to Nuggets

Minnesota struggled to slow Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic.

May 12, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns (32) / Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

It's all back to square one.

The Timberwolves fell to the Denver Nuggets 115-107 in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinal series Sunday night at Target Center in Minneapolis to even the series at two games apiece.

The Timberwolves trailed early Sunday night, just like they did in Game 3. They were down five after one quarter of play and fell behind by as many as 16 points during the second quarter. But unlike in Game 3, the Timberwolves punched back when the Nuggets made their runs.

The Nuggets just punched right back.

A sequence at the end of the second quarter is what really flipped the game on its head. The Wolves cut the Nuggets' 16 point lead down to seven after Anthony Edwards, who had a big night with 44 points, five boards and five assists, hit a 3-pointer with just under a minute to play in the half.

But then things went south. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope immediately answered Edwards' 3 with one of his own. Edwards then turned it over on the other end, which resulted in Michael Porter Jr. throwing down a transition dunk. Jamal Murray stole the ensuing inbounds pass from Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and he chucked up a half-court shot that went right through the hoop to beat the halftime buzzer.

That was an 8-0 Nuggets run in the final 30 seconds of the second quarter that put them up 64-49.

"It's inexcusable to have a segment like that, where they have eight points in (30) seconds or something like that, whatever it was, to close the quarter when we had done a good job of kinda chipping back into the game," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said.

There was never again a sequence that unfortunate for the Timberwolves, but the theme of the night was that the Nuggets always had an answer. The Wolves came out of the half and outscored the Nuggets 30-26 in the third quarter, and they cut their deficit back to single digits when Mike Conley hit a runner to open the fourth, making it a 90-81 game.

But Nikola Jokic immediately answered with a bucket, was fouled and made the free throw. Karl-Anthony Towns was called for a charge on the other end, and Jokic came back and hit a 3 to put the Nuggets back up by 15. Jokic finished his night with 35 points and seven rebounds.

With just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Rudy Gobert got an offensive rebound and made a tip-in to again make it a single-digit margin at 105-97. But Jokic made a runner a couple possessions later on the other end and Christian Braun made a pair of free throws to push it to 12.

The Wolves made one final push when Jaden McDaniels hit a 3 with 2 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the game, and Edwards got free for a layup to cut the deficit to seven. But Jokic answered right back with a layup to make it a nine-point game with under a minute and a half to play.

Too little, too late.

"I think we gave ourselves plenty of changes to win the game tonight. We just made a few mistakes," Edwards said.

The other key issue of the night was that the Timberwolves struggled to contain Aaron Gordon, who continually attacked the rim and often initiated the offense. Gordon scored 27 points on 11-for-12 shooting, and he also had seven rebounds and six assists.

"He played very well. He's been there, done that, so something we have to look at," Conley said of Gordon. "Big reason why it's been tough to kind of crack through these last couple games."

Now the series is back where it started: even. And if the Timberwolves hope to reach the Western Conference finals, they'll need to steal another one on the road. They have a chance to do so on Tuesday, when they'll look to rebound from back-to-back losses in Game 5.

The Timberwolves haven't lost three games in a row all season. That'll be an important streak to keep alive as they'll be in for another battle against the defending champions.

"We've always been a good team when we don't play our best, we hit some adversity, that next game or two we find a way to get back on track, whatever that entails," Conley said. "Hopefully that will be Game 5 in Denver. But like I said, we're confident we're gonna keep moving forward and try to find a way to adjust and be ready to go in Denver."