Timberwolves top Denver in high-emotion game

DENVER – After losing four of their last five games to postseason-bound teams, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch sensed a bit of an edge prior to Friday's 136-130 victory over Denver.

"They've been a little salty," Finch said. "But that's good."

The Wolves channeled that in the right way on Friday night with an important victory to keep their hopes of clinching a top six seed alive.

With every swing of momentum, every swell in the crowd at Ball Arena — and every Karl-Anthony Towns outburst at that crowd — the stakes felt like they grew higher with each minute. But despite recent tendencies to the contrary, the Wolves never got rattled. They forced Denver into 18 turnovers that they turned into 30 points while Towns evaded foul trouble to go toe-to-toe with reigning MVP Nikola Jokic.

Jokic got his with 38 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists, but Towns evaded foul trouble to score 32 and grab nine rebounds.

The Wolves are now two games back of the Nuggets and clinched the tiebreaker over them with Friday's win in their quest to evade the play-in tournament.

"It's tiring, man," Anthony Edwards said. "I feel like we gave everything we had tonight and I love that."

Finch said before the game he spoke with assistant Micah Nori and told him they needed not just a big game from Towns, but the other members of their big three — Edwards and D'Angelo Russell.

"If they all played well in the same game against a good opponent, that was going to be a big statement for us," Finch said. "We needed that."

Russell was hot at the start and scored 22 of his 24 points in the first half. Edwards came alive in the fourth quarter, when the Wolves extended their lead to 13 and held on despite Denver cutting it to three with 24.2 seconds remaining.

"And I wasn't even cooking, for real," Edwards said. "It gets even better."

Edwards was 1-for-10 with four points through three quarters. He was 5-for-5 for 14 points in the fourth.

"Just going to keep shooting. Can't get no worse than that when you ain't making none," Edwards said.

BOXSCORE: Wolves 136, Denver 130

Enough went in across the board for the Wolves, who hit 19 of their 40 three-point attempts. Patrick Beverley was a catalyst of the Wolves defense, which had an interesting night. It allowed Denver to hit 54% of its shots but those turnovers they generated turned into 22 fast-break points. Beverley tied a career high with six steals.

"It's unbelievable, man," Edwards said. "Watching him on TV and then watching him in person is like two different things. You see how competitive he is. You see how tough he is. How he carry hisself and how he expects the best from hisself and you can't do nothing but do the same."

The Wolves needed that energy Friday. Towns picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter but Finch decided to pull him with 6 minutes, 13 seconds to play in the third.

"The game was getting a little chippy," Finch said. "So I don't want to risk anything."

The Wolves bought time with Towns out and carried a four-point lead into the fourth, when they forced Denver into another six turnovers. Towns' presence the entire fourth helped the Wolves offense put up 38 to seal the win.

"Just needed to win the game at all costs," Towns said. "Just had to get the job done whatever the cost. Came in with an edge. … We had to come out here with energy, had to come out here with a desperation. I've said it before, we need all of 'em — and we really, really do need them all."