Anthony Edwards spearheaded a dramatic turnaround as the Minnesota Timberwolves erased a 20-point second-half deficit to defeat the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets 98-90 in a decisive Game 7 on Sunday night.
Despite trailing by 15 points at halftime, the Timberwolves mounted the largest comeback in a Game 7 in NBA playoff history. Edwards, who struggled early with just four points, no rebounds, and three assists by halftime, finished strong with 16 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. His overall impact was crucial despite a tough shooting night, going 6-of-24 from the field and 2-of-10 from beyond the arc.
“It was tough, man, because I couldn’t find myself, my rhythm tonight,” Edwards said. “So I just had to trust my teammates. … I just had to make the right plays throughout the rest of the game. I did that and my teammates made shots. Big shout-out to those guys.”
Defensively, Edwards was pivotal in containing Jamal Murray, who scored 24 points by halftime but was limited to 11 points thereafter, finishing with 35 points.
“There’s more ways to win the basketball game when you’re just not an offensive player,” Edwards said. “I’m not one-dimensional. I’m not just a guy who can score. I’m a guy who — whoever their best guard is, I can go lock him down. I feel like I did that on Jamal in the fourth quarter — in the third quarter and fourth quarter — and that’s what turned the game around.”
As the game concluded, Edwards signaled to the crowd at Ball Arena, where the Nuggets held a formidable 33-8 home record during the season but lost three times to Minnesota in this series.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaden McDaniels each contributed 23 points, propelling the Timberwolves to their first Western Conference finals appearance in 20 years. They are set to face the Dallas Mavericks starting Wednesday night at Target Center.
“It feels great,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “Beating a team like they are, an incredible team, a championship team, with the best player in the world, it feels good.”
Denver led 53-38 at halftime, and Murray’s three-pointer extended their lead to 58-38 early in the third quarter. However, the Timberwolves’ defense, the NBA’s best, sparked a comeback with a 28-9 run, narrowing the gap to 67-66 by the end of the third quarter.
Gobert’s basket early in the fourth quarter gave Minnesota its first lead since the first quarter. When Towns got into foul trouble, Naz Reid, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, excelled at both ends of the floor, maintaining the Timberwolves’ momentum.
During a crucial stretch with Minnesota leading 85-82, Reid added two free throws, a dunk, and assisted Edwards for a three-pointer, extending the lead to 92-82 with three minutes remaining.
Murray, who had struggled in Game 6, rebounded with 35 points on 13-of-27 shooting. Nikola Jokic added 34 points and 19 rebounds, but the Nuggets lacked additional support as no other player scored in double figures.
“So much was being placed on their shoulders,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We’re expecting Jokic and Jamal to continue pulling rabbits out of their hat, man, and somebody else has got to give some help.”
This was Minnesota’s first Game 7 since defeating Sacramento 20 years ago, the only other time they reached the conference finals. Denver, in their fifth Game 7 in six seasons, missed their third conference finals appearance in that span.
“That was a hell of a series,” Malone said. “They gave us all we could handle and they ended up winning Game 7 on our home court, which is a tough one to swallow. But we’ll be back.”
The Nuggets are the fifth consecutive defending champion not to reach the conference finals, a feat last achieved by Golden State in 2019.
“The one thing I keep on going back to right now is I consider the San Antonio Spurs a dynasty and they never won back-to-back,” Malone said. “So losing, the hurt of it, the pain of it, it helped us win our first championship. Can we use this year?”
Murray believes they can.
“For sure,” he said. “It’s back to being the hunter.”
