Timberwolves stifled, humbled in 117-90 Game 3 loss to Denver

Even after the Timberwolves became the toast of the NBA after a convincing Game 2 victory, and fans began scheming parade routes in the three off days before Game 3, the Wolves figured they would see the championship mettle of the Nuggets on Friday night at Target Center.

Denver delivered, and the Wolves had almost no response for the Nuggets in a 117-90 trouncing. A team that has had the requisite energy and urgency in each of its previous playoff games looked disinterested, like it had assumed the Nuggets would just bow out of the series after the Wolves took it to them in Game 2. Denver didn’t oblige.

“It’s a great humbling experience for our team,” Karl-Anthony Towns said after it lost for the first time in seven games this postseason. “To understand that this is not easy. Just because we’ve been fortunate to find ourselves on the winning end for six straight playoff games don’t mean that the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, the 10th is going to be the same result.”

After the game, several Wolves said they expected a series from the defending NBA champions, but the home team didn’t play like it Friday. Denver guard Jamal Murray, who avoided suspension after throwing a heating pad on the floor in Game 2, came back to life with 24 points, 18 of which came in the first half. Murray’s effective half, which came as the crowd booed him every time he had the ball, seemed to invigorate his teammates, who were a step quicker and smarter than the Wolves all night.

“I thought we’d be better,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “We talked all season about being a mature team, and mature teams have to handle success. Three days between games. How do you prepare? Back home. Lots of distractions. Need to lock in. Thought we had a couple good days of practice, but apparently we weren’t able to transfer it to the floor.”

Nikola Jokic had a quiet first half, then took the reins from Murray in the second half to finish with 24 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. The Wolves offense was out of sorts, as they resorted to hoisting shots from outside early — eight of their first nine shot attempts were three-pointers — and never got anything consistent going to the rim. For that, Anthony Edwards said he needed to be better after leading the Wolves with 19 points and five assists.

“I’ll take the blame for this loss,” Edwards said. “I came out with no energy at all. I can’t afford to do that for my team. I let my team down, coaches down, fans down. I’ll be ready Sunday.”

Towns had 14 points but took just seven shots on a night they could have used his efficiency. The Wolves shot 44% for the night to Denver’s 54% while the Wolves were 30% from three-point range to Denver’s 48%. The Nuggets only had eight fast-break points on the stat sheet, but the Wolves credited Denver’s work in transition off the Wolves’ misses in creating open looks.

At no point did the Wolves look like the team they resembled in their first six games of the playoffs. Some might want to point to a tighter whistle costing the Wolves as Jaden McDaniels spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble. Finch wondered if the whistle “softened up” the Wolves on defense.

“Losing Jaden early certainly hurt our ability to guard them a little bit more aggressively on the perimeter,” Finch said. “I thought there were some unfortunate calls, but it is what it is.”

They weren’t able to play the kind of physical defense they did earlier in the series, but that was also the case against Phoenix in some games, and they found a way to win. They were helpless to adjust in Game 3.

“We have to do a better job of understanding how that game is going to be called on a particular night,” said point guard Mike Conley, who had 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting. “The last game, it was physical and we could be physical. That favors us. Tonight, guys weren’t allowed to be as physical as we were in the last game. … We don’t blame the refs and think that’s why we lost this game. We know better than that.”

BOXSCORE: Denver 117, Wolves 90

Denver was the team losing its cool with officials in Game 2, but the roles reversed Friday, especially in the fourth quarter, when both Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Kyle Anderson picked up technicals from official Tony Brothers. Alexander-Walker had hurt his shoulder on a previous screen from Jokic, and when a similar play happened in the fourth, Alexander-Walker landed on the floor in pain. When he got up, he screamed at Brothers and earned a technical.

He said he will have to see how his shoulder feels Saturday after a night of rest. He had trouble taking off his jersey in the locker room.

“I just got heated in the moment getting hurt, trying to play hard,” said Alexander-Walker, who finished with six points. “Should’ve had a better conversation.”

Edwards, meanwhile, radiated as much positivity as he could. He seemed to shrug off Friday, called it a bad night and pledged Sunday would be different.

“We’ve still got it,” Edwards said. “They just made shots tonight. They played well, man. They’re the defending champs. We didn’t expect it to be easy. So this is what we wanted.”

Maybe not like this, though.