Timberwolves lose to Nuggets after digging hole, climbing out, falling back in during final minutes

DENVER – The many personalities of the Timberwolves were on full display in their 122-113 Game 2 loss to Denver.

For the first half, they looked out of their league, disinterested and fell behind as much as 21. Then, just as it seemed they might take their ball and go home, they turned on a breathless display on both ends in the third quarter to get back in the game and take the lead headed into the fourth.

Anthony Edwards regained the All-Star form he had for most of the season with 41 points. He and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, who had 40 points, put on a show for those who stayed up to watch the late tipoff – and didn't turn off the TV when the Wolves were down 15 at the half.

But no Wolves personality in the playoffs is more confounding, enigmatic, or is a summation of the up-and-down nature of this team the last two postseasons than Karl-Anthony Towns. If his line in the box score was different, perhaps the Wolves complete their comeback.

Towns scored just 10 points. He had more turnovers (five) than made field goals (three), and that wasn't going to cut it for the Wolves when Denver's MVP center Nikola Jokic nearly had a triple double with 27 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

"Definitely stings, it hurts," Towns said. "The first shot of the game was a floater that went everywhere but in, but it's cool – it's all right. Not too high, not too low. Keep it even keel, just get ready for Game 3. I trust my ability. I work too hard, so I'm not losing no confidence. I ain't losing anything like that. I'm going to take my shot every time."

Towns' first half mirrored just how miserable the Wolves' first half was as a whole: 0-for-4 for two points and four turnovers.

For all the talk of improving their transition defense, the Wolves allowed 19 fast-break points and fell behind by 21. Bad offense (39% shooting) led to bad defense and the snowball that cost them Game 1 kept rolling downhill in Game 2.

"Game plan mistakes. Just little things," Edwards said of the start. "Even myself, we just gotta be locked in on the game plan. I think we gotta drill that. We got one day before the next game. We just gotta lock in on that as a team."

Their second half couldn't be more different.

As has been their habit all season, the Wolves surprised everyone when it seemed they were on the verge of giving up. Edwards awoke in a big way on offense, and the Wolves clamped down on defense by having Gobert play Jokic instead of Towns. Now it was the Wolves who were turning stops and turnovers into transition buckets. They opened with a 20-6 burst to cut Denver's lead to 70-69. Eventually they would take a small lead and went into the fourth ahead 89-87.

"It's not like we've got a secret recipe all of a sudden and we think it's just going to win us a game," said guard Mike Conley (14 points). "But we saw what we're capable of doing in that short span of the third quarter, fourth."

Mostly, they saw what can happen when Edwards can get going, especially in transition. Edwards told his teammates the night before the game he wanted to be more aggressive, and he was. He had 27 of his 41 points in the second half.

"I came out kind of aggressive Game 1, and I took a backseat," Edwards said. "I told them last night, I'm ultra-aggressive tonight, whether it's me shooting or me finding people. "

The problem for the Wolves was shots were also falling for Murray and not for Towns.

Murray finished off the Wolves with 10 points in the fourth. The Wolves felt like they did a decent job forcing him into tough shots, but Murray made 13-for-22 on the night.

"He does a really good job of stopping on a dime and then pivoting and creating separation," Finch said. "We've got to close that gap when he does it."

Then there was Towns. He didn't seem to check out of the game mentally, as he sometimes did during last season's playoffs. He said he tried to affect the game in other ways, and his 12 rebounds contributed to the Wolves' comeback.

"Just affect the game every other way," Towns said. "If I'm not going to make shots, I've got to be there defensively, bring that energy. Third quarter I was doing that. Fourth quarter, I was doing whatever I could do – get rebounds, whatever. Things like this happen, being a pro.

"Sometimes the shots ain't going to fall, but then dominate the glass, dominate the paint, make sure I'm the best defender, best rebounder, best everything. Move the ball."

That all sounds fine, but the Wolves' hopes of coming back in this series take a serious hit if Towns has more nights like this, especially against a Denver team that boasted the fifth-most efficient offense in the league.

Towns did most of his scoring in the third quarter (eight points) and it's no coincidence that was the best quarter the Wolves played so far in this series. Through two games of the series, he is 8-for-27 and 21 points.

His teammates found a rhythm around him, but the Wolves are still down 2-0 in the series and are running out of time for everyone to figure it out.

"We just got to be able to maintain," Edwards said. "We can't wait until we go down 20 or 15 in the first half and try to figure out how to get back into the game. If we found something tonight, we gotta stick with it first quarter. We gotta come out with the same that we did in the second half."