DENVER — It was a case of déjà vu Monday night for the Nuggets. They blew a 19-point lead over the Timberwolves in game 2 of their playoff series at Ball Arena, and Minnesota went on to win 119-114 to even the series at 1-1.
It brought back the nightmare of the 2024 playoffs when the Nuggets blew a 20-point lead at Ball Arena in game 7 of their series against the T-Wolves.
Jaden McDaniels took perhaps his most notable shot after Minnesota's 119-114 playoff win at Denver in Game 2 on Monday night. The Timberwolves forward pretty much labeled all the Nuggets' players bad defenders. Thrown in there were All-Stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
“Go after Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders,” said McDaniels, who had 14 points and three assists. "Tim Hardaway (Jr.), Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team, just go at them.”
So they're all bad defenders?
“Yeah, they’re all bad defenders,” McDaniels added.
The Timberwolves overcame a 19-point deficit to even the first-round series, which shifts to Minnesota for Game 3 on Thursday night. Anthony Edwards led the way with 30 points despite playing on a sore knee. He also had 10 rebounds.
“They don’t got people that can defend the rim,” McDaniels said. "We’re still more athletic than them and just got to be able to finish when we do.”
Jokic had a triple double with 24 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. Murray scored 30 points with seven rebounds and seven assists. But Denver's dynamic duo shot a combined 2 of 12 for four points in the fourth quarter. But he lost out on some big shots when it counted late in the game. Murray had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds but elected to pull up for a 2-point shot instead.
He missed.
“I was happy he took the two points,” Edwards said. “I thought he had a good look at a 3 when he first came off but yeah, he took the 2-pointer. I guess if he made it, we would have been in a free-throw situation. But yeah, I’m kind of happy he took the 2-pointer.”
Murray said he “didn't make enough shots tonight.”
"That’s really about it,” he added. "We all could have played better. It’s not all on one person, that’s just the way the game goes sometimes. They played hard as well. It was a good game. I thought we had the game in our hands, but we just didn’t make enough shots, in my opinion.”
After the game, Edwardswas asked if the T-Wolves are now in the driver's seat in this series, heading home for games 3 and 4.
"It's 1-1, it's no driver's seat," said Edwards. "Hopefully our fans rattle them a little bit when they come to our crib."
Game 3 is Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. MST.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
*The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.
