Nuggets 125, Timberwolves 113: A Mile Short in the Mile High

The question of this game was bound to come down to one thing and one thing only: could the Minnesota Timberwolves survive the loss of not just their starting point guard but also the superstar leader of their team? The answer: a resounding no.

Unfortunately for Wolves fans, it got even worse. There are now even more questions that have been hammered into bright red Xs, screaming unfortunate nos.

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Can Julius Randle lead the Wolves to one singular playoff win as the team’s leading offensive option? Doesn’t look like it. Can Jaden McDaniels upscale his scoring load with far fewer mouths to feed, especially after the amount of trash he has talked? Early returns are not conclusive, but also not encouraging.

What makes it even worse is a potential injury to Naz Reid, who collapsed at center court halfway through the third quarter after what seemed to be an inadvertent collision with Tim Hardaway Jr. We still don’t have any information on the injury, but I’m sure that update will hurt.

UPDATE: He came back out in the fourth quarter and continued to play with some clearly belabored movements, but nothing as bad as initial prognoses.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, there’s so much more to obsess about.

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Let’s rapid-fire this:

The Wolves were defeated by a Spencer Jones run straight out of the half, in which they bled threes and lacked any real playable options to challenge an opposing team’s run. Bones Hyland had moments, but there is clearly no option for explosive runs.

Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokić played up to their regular standards. As noted by assistant coach Micah Nori, the Nuggets pushed Jokić to roll more often, leading to foul trouble for McDaniels as a helpside blocker, which in turn opened up Murray.

Minnesota failed to find any easy shots for quick offense. They got outrun in transition, largely due to their nearly doubled number of turnovers.

The forwards continued to struggle with foul trouble, just as they did in Game Two. This time it came in the form of Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle. Additionally, Ayo Dosumnu had a technical after trying to support Jaden after…

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Publish date : 2026-04-28 06:18:00

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