Wolves 87, Nuggets 110

Wolves record: 22-55

The Wolves tonight were down 32 points with 9:27 left in the game. That’s about all you need to know about this one.

Yes, with Al Jefferson, Randy Foye, Kevin Love and Craig Smith out of the lineup Minnesota was without 60 points per game. But, folks, Denver’s defense was on tonight. The Nuggets would have had a chance against anyone. The Timberwolves were simply out-worked.

“You’re a professional basketball player, you’ve got to go out there and play hard,” coach Kevin McHale said. “That’s your job. If guys aren’t there, you’ve got to step up and play.

From the Associated Press:

With Minnesota missing four of its top six scorers, the Nuggets could have easily taken a victory for granted. Instead, they zapped Minnesota’s energy early with intense defense and zipped the ball around well on offense, finding cutting teammates and shooting 53 percent from the floor.

“We played both ends of the court at a high level,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “We had different players offensively get hot.”

The game was essentially over by halftime, and it was a laugher by the fourth quarter with Anthony Carter lobbing alley-oop attempts to Sonny Weems. Anthony, who has scored at least 20 points in nine of his last 10 games, sat out the fourth.

From Jerry Zgoda/Star Tribune:

Jason Collins replaced Kevin Love in tonight’s starting lineup because the rookie who Kevin McHale said spent most of Friday “throwing up” is out because he still feels ill and has been getting intravenous feeds.

“He has been pretty sickly,” McHale said. “He was another shade of…what’s that Procol Harum song? Another shade of pale? Another shade of, whatever the heck he was.”

From Don Seeholzer/Pioneer Press:

This is the first missed game of the season for Love, who McHale said became ill before Friday night’s game at Utah.

From Jonah Ballow and Matt Everhart/Timberwolves site:

In the second quarter, Denver utilized a quick-strike offense by launching quality shots early in its possessions. Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, and J.R. Smith helped the Nuggets extend their lead to 20 points heading into the locker room for halftime after scoring 33 points in the second period.

Anthony finished with a game-leading 23 points on an effective 10-for-21 shooting performance. The nine points in the third quarter pails in comparison to the record-breaking 33 points he scored against Minnesota in the previous game.

Billups paced the Nuggets with 17 points on a variety of shots from the post position and in the open floor. Denver outscored the Wolves 27-5 on the fast break to improve to 52-26 on the season.

Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!

Wolves 87, Nuggets 110

Alan Draper

Alan Draper

Alan Draper