How can the Timberwolves get back home for Game 6? Stick to the formula vs. Nuggets

As the final seconds of the Timberwolves' 114-108 overtime victory over Denver on Sunday were ticking away, the Target Center crowd began chanting: "Wolves in seven. Wolves in seven. Wolves in seven."

One win and the fans want history.

The Wolves staved off elimination Sunday, denying the Nuggets — the top-seeded team in the Western Conference — a 4-0 sweep.

It's one step.

After the game, nobody in the locker room was talking about winning in seven. Why would they? No NBA team has ever come back from an 0-3 hole to win a playoff series.

Wolves players were talking about winning one more — in Denver on Tuesday — and getting back to Target Center for Game 6.

"They still got to win one more game," guard Anthony Edwards said. "And we got another chance to win another game to come back to Minnesota."

If the Wolves can mimic the formula that led to Sunday's victory in Tuesday's Game 5, they have a chance of getting another home game.

In their overtime victory Sunday, the Wolves played their best defense of the series, got their most meaningful minutes from the bench and got a great contribution from guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, whose life has drastically changed since coming to the Wolves from Utah at the NBA trade deadline in February.

"Back against the wall, I feel like that's when we magnify ourselves," center Rudy Gobert said. "Back against the wall, we don't die. We just go harder."

Now they have to do it all again.

The Nuggets shot 52.1% from the field over the first three games of the series. They were deadly on midrange shots. With center and two-time defending NBA MVP Nikola Jokic playing the facilitator, Denver dominated in points in the paint.

That changed Sunday.

"I think what we liked [Sunday] was we were far more aggressive," Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "We didn't follow them around. We didn't let them run their offense like it was a practice script. We got into them a little more. We battled everything."

It showed. Asked to spend much of the game guarding Jokic, center Karl-Anthony Towns did the job. Yes, Jokic scored a game-high 43 points, matching his season high with 26 attempts. But Towns did a good job of limiting Jokic's playmaking.

That slowed the Denver offense. Jokic hit 15 of his 26 shots; the rest of the Nuggets shot 39%.

Alexander-Walker did a great job against guard Jamal Murray, who averaged 27.3 points and shot 48.3% in the first three games. Murray scored 19, but was 8-for-21 from the field with three turnovers.

Then, in overtime, Alexander-Walker hit two key corner threes.

"He fought Jamal, and [Murray has] been kicking our butt through a lot of the series," Finch said.

Forward Kyle Anderson, who has struggled at times during the series, scored 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting with six boards and five assists in 22 minutes before leaving the game because of an eye injury and will miss Game 5. Both he and guard Austin Rivers were a plus-8 off the bench.

"Austin gave us good minutes out there, especially on defense," Finch said. "Hit the corner three. Silly me, probably should've been playing him longer. Kyle was really good again. I think everybody played well [Sunday]. We haven't had that in the series, where we've had the bulk of our guys play really, really well."

Wolves reserves outscored the Nuggets bench 22-12.

"We're a team that has relied on that all season," point guard Mike Conley said. "Our second unit needs to continue to be confident and go out there and play. Just to play free and have fun. Because when they're out there playing well, it makes our team complete."

Of course it won't be easy. The Wolves are 0-4 at Denver this season, losing by an average of 19 points.

"We show grit," Towns said after Sunday's game. "It's weird. When our backs are against the wall, we seem to find a way to get a win. It's great that we got it tonight and we gotta do it three more times."