Minnesota turned an elimination game into a rout against Denver and turned the Target Center into a 20,000-person party. Here are three stars from the Timberwolves’ 115-70 blowout Thursday night.
The Nuggets slowed down Edwards with double-teams and aggressive defense in Game 5. He solved their defense and then some with a 27-point Game 6. The only thing that limited his scoring was the Timberwolves’ massive fourth-quarter lead, ending his night after just 33 minutes.
Ant-Man splashes the step-back for 27 in the game
— NBA (@NBA) May 17, 2024
DEN lead 3-2 | Game 6 on ESPN pic.twitter.com/fy4jYH1xJr
It wasn’t just his scoring. Edwards played intense defense, harassing Jamal Murray and disrupting Denver’s passing lanes. He had three steals and turned them into fast breaks, just as he did for rebounds, punishing the Nuggets with his speed.
ANT STEAL & THROWDOWN
— NBA (@NBA) May 17, 2024
It's LOUD early in Minnesota on ESPN pic.twitter.com/xTTNc2Q11N
If that wasn’t enough, Edwards also punished the Nuggets when he slowed down. Then accelerated past his hapless defender.
THIS ANT HESI & SLAM
— NBA (@NBA) May 17, 2024
Game 6 on ESPN pic.twitter.com/dqijBdK013
Nikola Jokic is still the best player in the world. But the 22-year-old Edwards might be the best player in this series.
McDaniels outplayed a much more famous forward in Kevin Durant in the first round, justifying Edwards’ prophetic line, “You know, they got KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels.”
McDaniels had 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting while terrorizing the Nuggets on the defensive end. He was only 2-for-12 from three-point range in the first five games of the series, but he went 3-for-5 in Game 6. That's the same number of threes — and one more point — than Denver's Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. combined.
McDaniels swishing, Wolves rolling.
— NBA (@NBA) May 17, 2024
DEN lead series 3-2 | Game 6 on ESPN pic.twitter.com/f9A8C4N44k
When McDaniels is playing well, the Wolves are hard to beat. Game 7 might come down to whether McDaniels can score on the Nuggets again.
After Gobert caught so much flak for Nikola Jokic's big Game 5, he deserves recognition for being part of a highly stout interior defense by the Timberwolves. Specifically, Gobert shut up his nemesis Draymond Green, who had a lot to say about Gobert's defense both Tuesday and Wednesday night on "Inside the NBA."
“When you lose the belief… it’s over. They don’t believe they can win anymore, which means this series is over.”
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 15, 2024
Draymond sounds off on Gobert and the T-Wolves pic.twitter.com/c0U7LLOxKw
Green criticized Gobert's defense on Jokic and claimed that "this series is over" because the Timberwolves no longer thought they could win the series. After a 45-point victory in which Minnesota held Denver to only 70 points and dominated on the glass, Gobert emphatically answered.
Did Green actually think the series was over, or was he still upset because he got a lengthy suspension for trying to choke out Gobert earlier in the season? Green's trash-talking backfired, and Gobert demonstrated that his Defensive Player of the Year award and Minnesota's top-rated defense were no flukes.
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