At 10:00 a.m. Beijing time on May 11, the NBA playoff matchup was in full swing, and the Minnesota Timberwolves returned to their home court to face the Denver Nuggets. Before this game, the Timberwolves led the Nuggets 2-0 and won two games in a row on the road, occupying the absolute initiative in the series. This year's Timberwolves are really powerful, and they can't find any weaknesses, the inner twin towers are sitting on a pillar of optimism, the outside Edwards is very superstar, and the bench lineup is full of big-size players who can defend and shoot. In his pre-match interview, Edwards said: "A lot of people say I'm too arrogant, and they're like, 'Ah, Edwards is so arrogant. But I don't really think I'm arrogant. I'm not arrogant, I'm really just very confident. I just feel like I'm the best. ”
On the other side, the Nuggets, as the defending champions, are naturally very strong, but compared with last year, the Nuggets' dominance has still declined, the most obvious aspect is reflected in their declining outside projection level, only 32.2% shooting, and the second leader Murray is not in good shape, averaging only 20.4 points per game, and the average points per game in the playoffs for the first time in his career are not as good as in the regular season. When talking about this key G3, Nuggets player Reggie said in a pre-game interview: "Let's wait and see, we can't lose the battle, I hope we are ready, the atmosphere in Minnesota will be intense, the two teams are bitter enemies in the same region." 2-0 down is a big test for us and hopefully we can have a chance to win. "In this game, the two sides are in the starting lineup, and the Nuggets sent out:
Jokic, Murray, Porter Jr., Gordon and Pope, the Timberwolves sent Edwards, Towns, Gobert, Conley and McDaniels. At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Jokic jumped to win, the Nuggets took the lead in getting the ball, Pope shook his jump shot in the bottom corner and scored the first goal of the game, Murray rushed to the basket one by one, and the small hand shook elegantly and hit the basket steadily, Edwards faced the defense of the difficult jump shot three-point shot into the center of the net, Downs arc top is ready to go, the big three-point shot is difficult to score, Gordon cut the basket with both hands and hammer the dunk skills are shocking, Porter Jr. 45 degree angle outside the three-point line confidently shot into the center of the net, Downs ambush in the bottom corner, The outside three-pointer scored another goal, and Conley also had a flying and accelerated layup.
At the beginning of the game, the two teams started a tug-of-war, the score chased me and took the lead alternately, entering the middle of the first quarter, the Nuggets began to break the deadlock, Jokic crushed to the basket and hit a strong shot, Murray also had a difficult turnover jumper, the difference between the two sides came to about 10 points, and the first quarter ended, the Nuggets led the Timberwolves 28-20 by 8 points. At the beginning of the second quarter of the game, Holiday hit a three-point shot from the wing to help the Nuggets take the lead, Murray also had a difficult three-pointer with the help of blocking, Towns shot a three-pointer at a fixed point and also colored, and then Pope and Murray scored six points in a row. The Nuggets deserve to be the defending champions, compared with the first two games, they were able to adjust their state in time, and the shooting feeling picked up quickly, and after a wave of three-point rain, the Nuggets once took a 20-point lead in the middle of the second quarter.
After a period of time, the Timberwolves also adjusted slightly, Reed and Conley broke through to create kills and stood at the free throw line to chase points, and the difference returned to within 20 points. At halftime, the Nuggets led the Timberwolves by 15 points, 56-41. At the beginning of the second half of the game, Yibian fought again, Gordon's wing three-point jumper hollowed into the net, opening the third quarter of the game, Murray's bottom-line negative angle difficult jump shot two points into the bag, Gordon and Porter Jr. followed by a three-point shot by one person, Edwards began to exert force in the middle of the quarter, and scored 5 points in a row with a combination of sudden shots, but for a period of time after that, it was still the Nuggets who felt better, Jokic used his dream steps in the restricted area to shake off the opponent and score continuously, Porter Jr., Gordon, and Holiday who came off the bench all soared continuously, The Nuggets as a team as a team has maintained a three-point shooting rate of more than 5 percent.
At the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets had a 27-point lead over the Timberwolves at 93-66. In the final quarter, although the Timberwolves have not given up and still sent the main lineup to the court, there is no change in the score difference between the two teams, the Nuggets have always maintained a lead of about 25 points, playing almost half a quarter of the game, the Nuggets Mingjin received all the troops to replace the bench lineup, and the Timberwolves also conceded defeat in advance, and the game entered garbage time, and in the end, the Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves 117-90 by 27 points, and the big score came to 2-1.
In terms of statistics, on the Nuggets side, Jokic had 24 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists for a quasi-triple-double, Murray had 24 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Porter Jr. had 21 points and 4 rebounds, Gordon had 13 points and 5 assists, and Pope had 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. On the Timberwolves side, Edwards had 19 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, Towns had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Conley had 10 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and McDaniels had 10 points and 3 rebounds.