Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves end six-game losing streak by toppling Nuggets

The familiar echo off the narrow walls in the hallways of Target Center was missing for a while, but it was back after Monday's 124-111 Timberwolves win over Denver.

As Anthony Edwards made his way back to the locker room, he passed owner Alex Rodriguez and President Tim Connelly, and was yelling "Yeah," for anyone to hear.

Then he turned a corner, and said to no one in particular, "Boy, it feels good to win. I'll sleep good tonight."

There was a lot of tossing and turning over the six-game losing streak that improbably came to an end Monday.

The Wolves had lost to the league-worst Pistons on Saturday in a game that caused a closed-door team meeting afterward. They also entered the game with Naz Reid (back spasms), D'Angelo Russell (illness) and Bryn Forbes (shoulders) all late scratches and were more shorthanded than they typically are with Karl-Anthony Towns, Jordan McLaughlin and Taurean Prince out.

So naturally the Wolves came out Monday and beat the Nuggets, who have the best record in the Western Conference.

"Very proud of our guys after the weekend," coach Chris Finch said. "Obviously we desperately needed a win here, regardless of who we had playing or who we were playing. It was a total team win. Everybody who came in contributed."

They did it behind a 29-point effort from Edwards, who didn't score in the first quarter but bounced back for 15 points in the third as he scored 21 in the second half. His scoring and energy was contagious.

"We all love to see him succeed," said Jaylen Nowell (17 points). "So when he's succeeding, everybody else wants to follow."

Edwards had to take over a significant chunk of point guard duties with Russell out, and he found a balance of playing in isolation while generating ball movement for his teammates, such as Jaden McDaniels, who had 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting.

The process isn't always a smooth one for Edwards when he has the ball in his hands a lot, but he said he and Finch made it work.

"I'm not your typical point guard, so he got to help me out sometimes," Edwards said. "I don't know what to run because I might call something that's going to be for me. But no, he was helping me throughout the game like, 'Run this, run this,' and it would work."

Edwards gave a lot of credit to McDaniels, who played one of his best games of the season while managing foul trouble.

"He's a really skilled player," Finch said. "Can do a lot of different things. Can cut, crash, make a spot three, play off the catch. But if the ball doesn't move, these things don't come to life for him. It's kind of a barometer for our offensive ball movement."

Nobody had complaints in that department.

"When they made their runs, we didn't just collapse and let the adversity fold us, I feel like," McDaniels said. "All of us just trusting each other. It don't matter who shoots it or who makes the play, we're all on the same team, so it works out."

The Wolves got contributions from almost everyone who was available to play. Kyle Anderson handled the ball a lot, scored 19 points and guarded two-time MVP Nikola Jokic (24 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) while little-used bench players like Luka Garza (nine points), Matt Ryan (five) and Nathan Knight (eight) played key minutes that helped preserve the Wolves' lead.

"We just gave an effort," Anderson said. "We cared a lot, we rebounded, guys made second, third, fourth efforts, and it worked out well."

Now the challenge is to bottle this effort and not get complacent with one good night, as they tend to do. Monday was a good day, but they need several more like it.

"Came out with a sense of urgency," Anderson said. "We had more than them, everybody was locked in. That's the way we got to play."