Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
On May 13, Beijing time, the second round of the NBA playoffs ushered in the Western focus battle, and the Denver Nuggets went to Minnesota to challenge the Timberwolves away. At present, the score of the two teams is 2-1, the Timberwolves unexpectedly won two consecutive games at Denver's home court, and the Nuggets won a game by 27 points in G3 after losing in a row. Aside from the refereeing factor, after a four-day window, the Timberwolves who returned to their home court seemed to be unable to play, the rhythm was completely led by the opponent, and the defensive end also lost its sharpness, allowing the Nuggets to score 117 points on their home court. The boos from the home fans were not only sarcastic about Murray, but also disappointed with the home team.
After a heavy defeat, I believe that the Timberwolves will make corresponding adjustments in today's game, as Edwards said: "This is a series, and the team that wins four games will advance, and the victory or defeat of a single game will not hit the team's confidence!" Before the game, the American media ESPN gave a prediction of the winning rate of this game: the Nuggets have a winning rate of 39.3%, and the Timberwolves have a winning rate of 60.7%.
In terms of injuries, the Nuggets' Cankar continues to be sidelined, and Malone continues to use the starting five from the previous game: Jokic, Murray, Gordon, Pope, Porter; The Timberwolves are fully available, starting lineups: Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Lee Kyle and Karl Anthony Towns.
At the beginning of the first quarter, Madan scored a two-point basket to take the lead for the Timberwolves, and the old Conley also hit a three-point shot at the top of the arc, and Edwards accelerated to break through Jokic, facing Murray and Gordon, and hovered in the air to score a layup, and the Timberwolves played a perfect 7-2 start. Edwards made a quick stop and a step-back jumper, Gordon received the ball from Murray in the bottom corner, and the three-point hand fell back to color, Edwards quickly chased down and stopped for three points, and then broke through the restricted area and scored a three-shot layup, and he scored 9 points in the opening 4-of-4. Jokic broke through the top of the arc and knocked down Towns, and made a 2+1 throw, Reed could still have a three-point stop, and the Timberwolves were already 7 points ahead of the Nuggets. Edwards flew to the basket and missed the layup, complained that the referee was going to foul, Gordon counterattacked and made a layup to make it 2+1, Reggie hit two three-pointers in a row, and after the first quarter, the Nuggets overtook the Timberwolves by 5 points at 29-24.
Jokic and Edwards played a misplaced offense, with both scoring 11 points in the first quarter. Coming back in the second quarter, Holiday hit two three-pointers from the outside, Gordon pushed Lee Kyle to hit a basket, Braun cut to Murray to assist a layup, and the Nuggets had a lead to 16 points, directly stopping the Timberwolves. After the timeout, Conley's two-point shot scored to stabilize the army's heart, Jokic hit Gobert with his back in the low post, turned over and jumped into the net, Conley single-handedly defended Murray and received his third foul, but he had no choice but to rest. Reed accelerated past Braun to complete a one-arm split, and after Edwards resisted the defensive toss and scored, he also made a three-point pull, and the Timberwolves chased it to a seven-point difference. Jokic grabbed the rebound and was caught by Gobert, but was whistled for a foul, and in the next round of counterattack, he received the ball and took off directly to raise the fire, completed the one-arm dunk Edwards, the Timberwolves baseline ball was stealed by Murray, and the halftime ultra-long three-point fairy ball hit the whistle, and at halftime, the Nuggets regained the lead to 15 points at 64-49.
Halftime data, for the Nuggets, Jokic was 9 of 15, scoring 19 points, 6 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 block; Gordon finished with 14 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks on 6-of-6 shooting and 1-of-1 three-pointers, with a plus/minus of +18, while Murray had 7 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists. For the Timberwolves, Edwards had 23 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists on 9-of-12 shooting in the half, and Towns had 3 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists on 1-of-10 shooting. It is worth mentioning that the two teams only had 19 fouls in the half combined, and the free throw ratio was 10-6, and today's penalty was loosened again.
Yibian fought again, Murray scored 4 points in a row with a pull-up jump shot, Edwards and Downs also hit 2 three-pointers in a row, and responded, Murray shook off Downs and stepped back to hit a three-point shot, Gordon faced Conley in the bottom corner and made a three-point shot, Downs was pressed down by Porter Jr.'s hat with a three-strong attack, and the referee blew a penalty for the scrum. Edwards covered with the help of his teammates, the ultra-long three-point shot fell and fell, Murray stopped three points and could also respond, and he had scored 10 points in a single quarter, Lee Kyle was fouled by the blow hand when he defended Braun, and then signaled to the bench that there was no foul, the coach did not choose to challenge, Edwards accelerated to break through Murray, folded and dunked against Holiday in the face of Holiday, and then made two fouls and hit two free throws, and after the third quarter, the Timberwolves chased the 11-point difference at 79-90.
In the fourth quarter of the decisive battle, Jokic broke through and turned around and threw to make 2+1 to stabilize the team's position, Downs broke through and pushed down Porter Jr., was whistled by the referee for an offensive foul, and received his third foul. After a timeout, Jokic made a foul with a one-two strong basket and then rubbed the top of his head. Braun received the ball at the top of the arc and the three-pointer fell down, Conley flew to save the ball and was suspected of stepping out of bounds, the referee gave the Timberwolves the ball, and then Conley, suspected of being out of bounds to receive the ball, the referee also did not blow the whistle, Maidan broke through and hit a layup, Gordon responded to Gobert's step-back jumper, and currently scored 25 points in 10 of 10, Jokic also threw it, and the Nuggets regained the lead to 12 points.
There was no suspense in the game, and in the end, the Nuggets completed a 7-point reversal, and the big score chased to a 2-2 draw, officially ushering in the battle of Tianwang Mountain! The Timberwolves have to recognize the situation and can't get lost anymore, Towns and Gobert have to be tough, and it is definitely not possible to count on Edwards alone, compared to the Nuggets, Murray, Gordon and Holiday have all stepped up.
In terms of statistics, on the Nuggets' side, Jokic shot 15 of 26 and shot 35 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists; Murray was incredibly efficient, shooting 8-of-16 from the field and finishing with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists; The two wonders made meritorious contributions, Gordon made 11 of 12 shots, contributing 27 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, J Holiday made 3 of 5 three-pointers, scored 10 points, and the defense was also strong; Porter Jr. had 4 points and 3 rebounds, and Pope had 3 points. On the Timberwolves' side, Edwards shot 16 of 25, scored 44 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, and scored a new playoff career high; Downs was in the slump, with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists; Gobert had 11 points and 14 rebounds, Walker was in a slump with only 2 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, Reed had 11 points and 4 rebounds, and Conley Sr. had 15 points, 2 rebounds and 9 assists.