The Minnesota Timberwolves are up on the defending champions in the Western Conference Semifinals after a 106-99 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.
Star guard Anthony Edwards continued his outstanding play in this year’s playoffs with a huge 43-point night, showing that he’s not going to back down against Nikola Jokić and the No. 2-seeded Nuggets.
But it wasn’t all Edwards in this one. He also got some help from Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 20, and Naz Reid, who notched 16 points off the bench.
Reid, who just won his first Sixth Man of the Year award, was tremendous in the fourth quarter with 14 points. During one point in the final quarter, he went on a only 10-point scoring run.
After the game, fans praised Edwards and Minnesota for handling business in Game 1 of what is sure to be a tough series:
The Nuggets seemed poised to repeat as the team to come out of the West this season, but after the Wolves stole Game 1, it appears this series could go either way. Minnesota was convincing in the first round against the Phoenix Suns, and a win over Denver on Saturday shows that it could be a real contender this year.
If the Timberwolves can continue getting this kind of play from Edwards, an NBA Finals might not be that far out of reach.
