The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves meet in Game 2 of their opening round playoff series on Wednesday night.
Game time is 10:00 p.m. ET at Denver’s Ball Arena where the Nuggets are -8.5 point favorites. The total is 223.
Denver Nuggets (53-29, 1-0, #1 seed)
The Nuggets went wire-to-wire in a convincing 109-80 victory in Game 1. Jamal Murray with 24 points was one of six Denver players in double figures:
Jamal Murray had 24 PTS, 8 REB, 8 AST, 1 TO in the Nuggets 29-point win vs the Wolves.
This was Murray's first playoff game since the 2020 Bubblepic.twitter.com/6Vg1juCtIx
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 17, 2023
It was Murray’s first playoff game since the 2020 bubble in Orlando. He showed no ill-effects of his sore thumb or worries about his surgically-repaired left ACL that he tore two years ago.
NBA MVP finalist Nikola Jokic, a triple-double threat every night, had a pedestrian 13 points and 14 rebounds but controlled the pace on the offensive end.
Nikola Jokic showin' off the footwork on Karl-Anthony Towns 😳pic.twitter.com/1QfZqdKTbt
— Nuggets Nation (@NuggetsNationCP) April 17, 2023
Jokic has a sore wrist and is listed as questionable for Game 2.
Minnesota Timberwolves (41-41, 0-1, #8 seed)
Losing the first contest of a seven-game series isn’t tragic for the road team. The lower seed needs to win just one road game to grab home-court advantage.
However, if the Minnesota Timberwolves play like they did in Game 1 the Nuggets will have no trouble advancing in a sweep.
Tired Timberwolves
Part of Minnesota’s poor effort could be attributed to having to compete in two play-in games to get the eighth seed and having just one day off before Game 1.
Conversely, Denver had six days off to prepare and heal.
The two days off between Games 1 and 2 may be the cure for the Timberwolves’ poor shooting Sunday night. They shot 37 percent overall, hit just 30.6 percent of their 3-pointers and missed seven of their 16 foul shots.
Anthony Edwards scored a game-high 18 points for Minnesota but he was just 6 of 15 from the field. He had a dreadful first half:
Anthony Edwards at half tonight:
5 Points (3 FT)
25% FG
0-3 3PT
3 TurnoversANT-MAN…MORE LIKE CANT MAN 👀🤭🔥😱 pic.twitter.com/l4zFO75LwT
— Hater Central (@TheHateCentral) April 12, 2023
Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert, who eight points and 13 rebounds in the opener, is listed as questionable as he again is dealing with a back injury.
KAT MIA vs. Denver
The teams split the four games in the regular season and Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t play in any of those meetings.
Towns was back for Game 1, but was a non-factor scoring just 11 points on 5 of 15 shooting.
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