"It's going to be the greatest tie-break ever!"
After the G6 of the Timberwolves and Nuggets ended, the excited Huazi said the above sentence to the assistant coach on the sidelines. However, until today's half-time game, this sentence is a boomerang-like existence for Huazi.
At halftime, Huazi scored 4 points, Murray scored 24 points, Jokic 15 rebounds, and the Nuggets led the Timberwolves by 15 points, blowing up the Timberwolves' offense and defense in all directions. Murray had his best half since the start of the playoffs, with Jokic dominating the rebounds under the basket.
And Huazi, who had high hopes, completely lost herself in the half-time ball. He wanted to win today, so he played as many reasonable shots as he could from the start of the game. In the face of the bag, Huazi always wants to make the right choice, but with all due respect, Huazi's ability to play the ball has been thoroughly explored by the Nuggets.
The Nuggets had full time in the first half, and the starters basically played the whole first quarter, and Murray's outburst gave the Nuggets a big enough lead. At the beginning of the third quarter, Murray scored the Nuggets' 58th point on a three-point shot from the bottom corner, and the Nuggets led by 20 points, and the Timberwolves may be one breath away from being eliminated.
But the situation of the game is starting to change at this moment. The Nuggets let their guard down on the defensive end after leading by 20 points, which is understandable, and the Nuggets are equivalent to a six-and-a-half rotation today, with four of the starting five players playing more than 40 minutes, and Jokic rested for 1 minute and 24 seconds throughout the game.
The full time of the main game gave the Nuggets a 20-point advantage, but the game was going to play four quarters after all. As the game progressed, the Timberwolves' energy returned, forcing Nuggets turnovers and grabbing more frontcourt rebounds to get more shots.
The point difference was narrowed step by step, and Huazi finally regained his confidence after two steals and counterattack dunks. On the last ball at the end of the third quarter, he faced Gordon with consecutive crotch dribbles and then stepped back to hit a three-point shot, and he scored 9 points in this quarter and eased up.
The Timberwolves scored 14 points in the first quarter, and the Timberwolves recovered a 19-point deficit in 10 minutes. At the beginning of the final quarter, the Timberwolves overtook the score. After leading by 20 points in the third quarter, the Nuggets were beaten by the Timberwolves by 32-9 to take a three-point lead, and the game was firmly in the hands of the Timberwolves.
Conley hit a magical three-pointer, Gobert hit an incredible rollover jumper, everything was on the side of the Timberwolves, when have you ever seen Gobert hit a back-to-back shot, or on Jokic's head!
Jokic's physical fitness, which turned red in the fourth quarter, could only keep shooting three-pointers from the outside, and lost all the first seven three-point shots, but he could only continue to shoot. Jokic was still Jokic, hitting two three-pointers in a row after being 0-of-7 to keep the Nuggets in the game.
But there were still people on the Timberwolves' side who stepped up, and Reid found his defensive form in G2, and he had 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks in this quarter, both of which were Jokic. At the height of the game, Reed dominated the game.
Huazi's state at the end of the quarter can be said to be very bad, 1 of 8, but the bottom corner three-pointer he hit can make up for all the mistakes he made. Huazi was 6-of-24 from the field, 2-of-10 from three-point range, with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, and his offensive state was the worst since the start of the playoffs.
But Huazi has enough teammates to support him, McDaniels who is in a brave offensive state, Conley Sr., who shoots three three-pointers, Reed who has regained his Super Sixth Man style, and Downs, who is very, very tough and supports the whole team.
In the first half, when Huazi fell into a slump, it was Downs who hit the inside again and again to wake up his teammates, and it was Downs who withstood Jokic's offense again and again, consuming Jokic's physical energy. The stats of 23 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block are not exaggerated, but Towns played the hardest and most important game of his career.
When Downs was ridiculed by the fans, by Butler a few years ago, for being a soft egg; When Downs lost the most important person in the world and fell into a long low ebb; He must have thought about countless nights like today, when he led the whole team forward, turned the tables from adversity, and shattered all the doubts and mockery.
At the last minute, it was Downs' dunk that completely killed the suspense of the game, and at that moment the whole Nuggets team stood in place, only Towns rushed forward with infinite vitality. In the closing stage, the Timberwolves brought up a three-high lineup, and finally defeated the Nuggets and Jokic's dream of defending the title.
Twenty years ago today, Kevin Garnett led the Timberwolves to a tie-break victory over the Kings in the Western Conference semifinals, reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time in team history. In that game, Garnett went crazy and got 32 points, 21 rebounds, 4 steals and 5 blocks.
20 years later, Towns, who was pinned on by Garnett, followed in Garnett's footsteps and entered the Western Conference finals for the second time in the history of the Timberwolves. And today, it's Garnett's birthday, Happy Birthday Kevin Garnett!
Prior to today, the largest comeback margin in playoff history was just 11 points, so when the Timberwolves trailed by 20 points at one point, the sense of desperation had swept over most of the Timberwolves fans.
But the players on the court, relying on their tenacious style of play, relying on the shooting opportunities created by Huazi, relying on Downs' perseverance step by step, and relying on the bite and hard work of the whole team, climbed over this 20-point mountain and created a new history of stealing.
Back to the beginning, is this the greatest tie-break ever? For the Timberwolves, absolutely!