Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolves? The Nuggets better be.
For the first time in six playoff series the Nuggets trail. Now they will be forced to win a game on the road against the Timberwolves and figure how to slow down runaway train Anthony Edwards.
With 34.1 seconds remaining in Game 1 of the second round, Michael Porter Jr. splashed a three-pointer to provide the Nuggets, down 104-99. a hope, a wish, a chance for another postseason comeback.
Can’t, man, because of Ant Man.
Edwards got the inbounds pass at the Nuggets baseline and raced through five Nuggets in seven seconds like the Shanghai Maglev bullet train and made his final, exclamation points of Saturday night with a layup that beat the Nuggets by seven.
The Minnesota guard finished with his NBA playoff high of 43, and the Nuggets were finished.
When we last saw Edwards at The Jar in Denver in the playoffs was Game 5 of the first round last season. In spite of his 29 points Anthony’s three-point attempt at the buzzer to tie the game barely missed, and the Nuggets eliminated the Timberwolves. As he left the court for the tunnel the angry, frustrated Edwards grabbed a folding chair and flung it aside — striking two arena women employees. In the aftermath Denver police investigate and cited him for third-degree assault. Although the charge was dropped later, the NBA fined Edwards $50,000 for the stupid act.
He obviously remembered the events of that evening before Game 1 this series. He flung aside the Nuggets.
Edwards scored 14 in the first quarter and accounted for 25 of the Wolves’ 40 points in the first half.
The Nuggets tried everyone but Virginia Woolf on Edwards. Nobody stopped him.
“There is no weakness in (Anthony’s) game. And it’s going to be a hell of a challenge trying to slow him down,’’ Michael Malone said, even as the steam of Edwards still swirled in downtown Denver.
The Timberwolves put a scare into the Nuggets in 2023 and played them stronger than any other team they bulldozed to the NBA title. This year, the challengers are more frightening — primarily because of Anthony’s locomotion and kinetic energy and array of three-point projectiles, drives, jumpers, floaters, layups and putbacks. He also was the best defensive player on the floor in 42 of 48 minutes at rarefied air.
“I trust my teammates,’’ he said.
In Anthony, they trust more.
The Nuggets were off to their usual rotten beginning, behind 18-4 seven minutes in. It seemed as if the SRO crowd, which has a tradition of not sitting down until the team’s first made shot, might be standing and staring quite a while. Aaron Gordon eventually dunked.
Even though they came rushing in return and led 25-23 at the break, the Nuggets had no solution to that Rubik’s Cube of a superstar. Malone and his Nuggets knew full well after Minnesota discarded the Suns in the Dumpster in four games, and Anthony played possessed. But they were clueless with gimpy Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on him, an even gimpier Jamal Murray as a defender, and Gordon and Nikola Jokic attempting to guard him, and double coverages around him.
Yet, the Nuggets were in the game and in the lead (by seven points in the third quarter) even as they continued to not perform to lofty expectations. The No. 2 seed was favored over the No. 3 seed, even though they were 2-2 in the regular season and the Wolves ended up with only one less victory. Murray had the first scoreless first half of his playoff career, and his backcourt mate, KCP, was without a point, too. The Nuggets held together with baling wire, epoxy and Michael Porter Jr. as Jokic turned the ball over as often as he got a rebound or a basket.
The teams were tied four times in the fourth quarter, and the Nuggets edged ahead by a point (81-80) with 8:35 remaining. But with Naz Reid, voted the Sixth Man of the Year in the league, scoring 10 consecutive points and Anthony on another tear, the Wolves outscored the Nuggets during an 18-7 run and pulled away to 102-91 with only 1:36 remaining.
There would not be Murray Miracles or Joker Phenomenon or Nuggets spectacular sensation.
Because the baddest beast made sure with a coast-to-coast conclusion.
Woody Paige has been a sports and general columnist in Colorado with the Rocky Mountain News, The Denver Post, The Colorado Springs Gazette and The Denver Gazette since 1974. He has been a commentator for the ESPN network on six different shows for 20 years. woody.paige@gazette.com