
It was an unforgettable night of basketball on Sunday when Anthony Edwards emerged from a sluggish start and led the Minnesota Timberwolves in a shocking comeback, eliminating the Denver Nuggets, last season’s champions, from the NBA playoffs in a 98-90 climax.
Once trailing by a daunting 20 points after halftime, the Timberwolves etched their place in NBA record books, completing the biggest second-half comeback Game 7 has ever witnessed. The team fought tooth and nail to turn the tide against the Nuggets, and it was the young gun Edwards who stole the spotlight by finishing with a tally of 16 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.
Although his shooting stats may not have been noteworthy — six successful shots out of 24 attempts, including only two from behind the arc — his impact on the game was undeniable.
“It was a difficult game for me as I couldn’t find my rhythm,” Edwards admitted. “So I turned to my teammates for support and concentrated on making the right plays throughout the rest of the game. They hit shots when we needed them. Those guys came up big.”
Edwards’ defensive prowess was on full display as the game reached its crucial stages. Against Jamal Murray, a top Nuggets player who had already notched up 24 points by halftime and finished with 35, Edwards made several decisive defensive plays.
Edwards emphasized that winning a basketball game is not just about offense. “I’m not a one-dimensional player,” he stated. “I can score, but also put a hold on their best guard. That’s exactly what I did to Jamal in the third and fourth quarters. Those plays turned the game around.”
The Timberwolves’ stunning victory saw a pivotal contribution from Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaden McDaniels, who each scored 23 points. The victory marked the Timberwolves entering the Western Conference finals for the first time in two long decades, with their match against the Dallas Mavericks set to take place at Target Center on Wednesday night.
As the clock ran down, the final scenes depicted Edwards festively dribbling the ball upcourt, bidding farewell to the hushed crowd at the Ball Arena, an atmosphere made all the more poignant by the Nuggets’ impressive home record this season.
Feeling elated about the victory over the star-studded champions, the Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert shared, “Beating a team like the Nuggets, with arguably the best player in the world, it’s just amazing.”
Under Murray’s terrific surge, the Nuggets dashed to a 53-38 lead at halftime. The gap was stretched to 20 points when Murray drained a 3-pointer early in the third quarter. However, the Wolves slowly weaved their way back into the game behind their staunch defense, finishing the quarter on a dazzling 28-9 run.
Meanwhile, Murray, who had only managed to sink four out of 18 shots in their humbling 115-70 loss in Game 6, scored 35 points, while Nikola Jokic contributed another 34 points and 19 rebounds. However, their Herculean efforts went in vain as their destination fell short with no other Nuggets players reaching double figures.
“We lost a grip on the series,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone conceded. “The weight of expectations was heavy on Jokic and Jamal’s shoulders. They performed admirably, but we needed others to step up.”
The Timberwolves had not tasted a Game 7 victory since their win against Sacramento twenty years ago, the only other time they made it to the conference finals. The Nuggets, on the other hand, found themselves on their home court in a Game 7 for the fifth time in six seasons.
The loss means the Nuggets become the fifth consecutive champion to not reach the conference finals, a feat last achieved by the Golden State Warriors in 2019. However, Murray remains hopeful that the disappointment will serve as motivation for next season.
“It’s back to being the hunter,” he affirmed, already preparing for the battles to come.