On May 18, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued. In the just-concluded Western Conference Focus Battle, the Nuggets took a 3-2 lead to the Timberwolves' home court to welcome the series G6. Before the game, the outside world agreed that the Nuggets, who completed the 2-3 chase will win this round of the series in Minnesota, after all, after G3, the Nuggets found a defensive system to limit Edwards, and the awakening of Jokic and Murray also made the Timberwolves powerless, coupled with the blatant help of the referee, this group of semifinal matchups may have lost suspense in advance.
But entering the game, the Timberwolves, who were unwilling to be out of the game, played a must-win determination in the first quarter, and as the veteran Conley dragged the injured Achilles tendon to force a comeback, the Timberwolves blasted out a 31-14 attack wave in the first quarter alone, beating the Nuggets by 17 points in a single quarter. Although Jokic tried to lead the team to fight back in the subsequent games, the starting four tigers, who had played well before, completely lost their crosshairs today. On the other hand, the Timberwolves, McDaniels played the winning wonder, starting 30 minutes and shooting 8 of 10, 3 of 5 three-pointers and scoring 21 points efficiently, plus Edwards, who scored a game-high score of 27 points and a plus/minus of 43+, the Nuggets completely lost their ability to resist, and finally lost 70-115 to the Timberwolves by 45 points, ending the matchup in a near-humiliating way.
It is worth mentioning that aside from the 17-point net win over the Nuggets in the first quarter, the Timberwolves controlled the score at 29-9 in the final quarter by virtue of their perfect play on both offensive and defensive ends. The firepower on the offensive end is unabated, and the defensive end has completely locked up the Nuggets, you must know that the Nuggets have never played a game with a single quarter scoring but double digits this season, which shows that without the help of the referee's whistle, the Nuggets want to defeat the Timberwolves from the frontal battlefield is almost a fool's dream, and the three consecutive defeats from G3 to G5 are just the loss of young Edwards and the Timberwolves who have eaten the light enemy and the "black whistle".
With the Timberwolves beating the Nuggets by 45 points at home, the first tie-break in the West has officially kicked off. Although the Nuggets led by Jokic and Murray have played a total of 4 steals in the past few years, with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss, facing the Timberwolves, who have almost no shortcomings on both offensive and defensive ends and organizational tandem, the defending champions have to accept the fact that there is a high probability of a bang. After all, in this round of the playoffs, the young Edwards has shown unrivaled dominance, with a plus/minus of 43+ in G6 games, second only to James, Bane, Butler's 46+ and Bullock's 44+ in the early years, ranking the fifth highest in NBA history.
In addition, Edwards scored 611 points, 110 rebounds and 102 assists in the first 21 games of his playoff career, second only to James, Jordan, Doncic, and Maddy, who are also the fifth-fastest players in NBA history. Not only that, but the most desperate thing for the Nuggets is that Edwards seems to have been born for the big scene, and he has played four key life-and-death games in his career so far, during which he can contribute an average of 30 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game, becoming the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 30+5+5 in a life-and-death battle, and in front of him are Jordan, James and Doncic.
That is to say, in the face of heavy pressure, Edwards has never disappointed, he is different from Tatum and other soft-footed shrimp, the Timberwolves are very likely to return to the Western Conference finals stage after many years under his leadership, and even rush out of the West to reach the Finals, because the Thunder next door has fallen behind the Mavericks 2-3, and the Mavericks' lineup configuration is completely insufficient in the Timberwolves, they are a team with strong offense and weak defense, in the face of players like Edwards and Daniels, the Mavericks can't suppress it at all, Even on the inside, there is an absolute disadvantage to Downs and Gobert. Once they reach the Finals, even if the opponents are the Celtics Big Four, the Timberwolves are also crushing in terms of lineup configuration and star attributes, and it is only a matter of time before they win the championship.