Ten clutch points: Murray tough, Finch finds a spot; thoughts following Wolves’ Game 3 loss to Denver

1. Reports of Jamal Murray and the Nuggets’ demise might have been exaggerated

Denver coach Michael Malone said he’d probably prefer his team played right away Tuesday after the Timberwolves crushed his Nuggets 106-80 on Monday in Game 2 of their Western semifinal series.

But the three days off did wonders for star guard Jamal Murray and his injured calf.

Murray went 3-for-18 for eight points back in Denver and later in the game threw in frustration a heat pack and towel from the the Nuggets bench onto the Ball Arena court. He was fined $100,000 but not suspended for transgressions that the game officials said they didn’t see.

So Murray played on in Game 3 at Target Center, completely putting his performance, actions and his team’s lopsided loss behind him with a night that transformed the Nuggets reeling from consecutive losses at home to start the best-of-seven game series.

This time, Murray went 8-for-13 before halftime on his way to a 24-point night on 11-for-21 shooting before he went to the bench for the night with fewer than six minutes left.

2. Finch Finds best seat in the house

As he did for the first two games in Denver, Wolves coach Chris Finch sat a row behind his team’s bench when the series moved to Target Center on Friday.

He sat behind assistant coaches Pablo Prigioni, Micah Nori and Kevin Hanson. Nori walked and worked the sideline in collaboration with Finch, who remains on crutches after he needed surgery to repair a knee injury sustained in the clinching Game 4 in a first-round series in Phoenix.

“It worked out real well,” Finch said before the game. “When the players come to sit, I’ll be right there. I’m very pleased with that and I’m also protected. We have a great staff. I trust them implicitly. We’ll figure out a new rhythm and a new reality as we go.”

3. Wolves show their 1-2 punch early

It didn’t take long for either of the Wolves’ two stars to get themselves started: They made back-to-back three pointers – Ant went first, then KAT – within the game’s first 1:45. That allowed the Target Center sellout crowd to stand up, as they always do when their team scores its first points of the game. That wiped away the Nuggets’ early 4-0 start.

4. Listen to what Michael Porter Jr. says

The Nuggets’ versatile 6-10 forward during a timeout after his team led throughout the first quarter, all the way to a 28-20 lead by quarter’s ending:

“We’re too good to play from behind.”

And Denver was just getting started after they got trounced by the Wolves from the start in Game 2′s runaway win. The Nuggets led by as many as 20 points before halftime and by 29 after it.

5. One hippy Nikola Jokic screen, two separate technical fouls

Wolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker walked off the floor with fewer than five minutes left after getting hip-checked on a screen set by big Nikola Jokic.

Both he and teammate Kyle Anderson received their own technical fouls for protesting Jokic’s hit that sent Alexander sprawling across the court with 5:54 left. That was just before both teams made mass substitutions.

6. Faces in the crowd

Friday’s front-row celebrities included former Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph, NCAA women’s basketball champion Raven Johnson from South Carolina, and Korean-American film director Lee Sung Jin, creator of the Netflix series “Beef.” Wolves minority owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore again sat on the sideline away from the Wolves team bench, where majority owner Glen Taylor sat.

Rudolph wore a Karl-Anthony Towns jersey.

Former Twins greats Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau were also spotted in Wolves gear.

7. McDaniels’ foul trouble doesn’t help

The Nuggets and Murray sliced and diced the NBA’s top-rated defense after their ball movement and execution got the Wolves best defender Jaden McDaniels in early foul trouble attempting to slow Murray with three fouls before the second quarter was gone. Finch kept McDaniels on the floor even after he picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter until he came out with four minutes left in the third.

Meanwhile, Porter got in foul trouble himself, picking up his fourth personal foul late in the third quarter.

8. Oh say can you see …

You could tell the sellout crowd came ready to rock the arena when they gave Twin Cities saxophonist Kenni Hoffman a rousing ovation to his national-anthem rendition. But the Nuggets soon sung the Wolves and their fans a lullaby by building an early lead and never looking back.

Hoffman has played with Michael Bolton, Celine Dion among many, many others.

9. Ant gives Target Center faithful something to cheer, if only briefly

Edwards briefly brought the home crowd out of their seats with a block of Porter’s layup with less than five minutes gone in the game, when the two teams traded buckets.

10. As has been mentioned ...

No team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the playoffs. So a Denver loss would have been ... catastrophic?