There are no asterisks in the win column. When they tally them up and the standings shake themselves out, there are no annotations set next to the wins and the losses. If the Denver Nuggets want to rest the bulk of their starters, then they should do that — the season is long and the toll on the body of the players is hefty. The Timberwolves shouldn’t care, though, they need to keep pumping out wins and clawing their way through the Western Conference battlefield. That’s all that matters.
The game ends 128-98. A game that felt like a pantsing before the night even began. The Nuggets are a spectacular basketball team, but without Nikola Jokic’s bumbling brilliance, Jamal Murray’s sizzling guard play, and the supreme role player punch that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon provide, they became a skeletal husk of their usual selves. And so the Wolves treated them as such.
But that hasn’t always been the case this season. You need only to rewind to them going down swinging against a mediocre-at-best Orlando Magic team two days ago. You need only pick out any number of cataclysmic failures against the worst teams in the league throughout this confusing campaign. This game needed to be treated as if Denver’s stars were present and palpable, or else that same ugliness could have ensued. It needed to be taken seriously. And it was nice to see it taken seriously, because wins are wins no matter how they present themselves. They’re all that matter.
D’Angelo Russell: 10/10
This wasn’t his loudest night. It wasn’t guitar solos and big fucking fireworks. But he didn’t do anything wrong, he just played his role and played it to perfection. Sure, it’d be nice if he could start scoring the ball in the second or third quarters instead of bookending his nights with enormous openings and grand closings, but those concerns are dampened when he is playing against Michael Malone’s basement dwellers.
So, he just did his thing. Flew out of the gates like a bat out of hell, nailing a trio of treys and a couple of nifty layups before a bead of sweat ever trickled down his icy forehead. And, while he cooled off in the scoring column after his opening flurry, he was masterful with his playmaking all night long. The pick-and-roll synergy with Gobert was crisp and the corner skip passes were rattling into shooting pockets.
Light work.
Finished with 18 points (83.6% TS) and 10 assists in 30 minutes — +22.3 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 8/10
Never really got deep into his bag. He was in there, for sure, rummaging around like he’d lost his fucking wallet, but he never got to the most cavernous portions of his ever-deepening bag. He’s always been the kind of player who thrives under the bright lights. He seeks out the magnifying glass and embraces the sun’s rays. But, thanks to Denver’s enormous injury report, this game was played in the shadows.
Even then, even in a game that had no business being aired on any kind of broadcast, he had his moments. His baseline is so high these days that nary a night goes by where he doesn’t set the arena ablaze, even if it’s just fleeting moments. On the rare occasions where his team wavered and threatened to slide into another scrap against a beatable team, he would slither to the rim like an angry fucking python or bury a step-back triple.
He’s pretty much inevitable these days.
Finished with 20 points (52.1% TS), 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 31 minutes — +23.0 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 10/10
Imagine trying to score on him. Like headbutting a fucking brick wall. Like trying to crawl through a bed of hot embers in the nude. Like fighting off a mountain lion with a flyswatter. Michael Porter Jr. treated him like a vaccine, fleeing from his very presence at every turn. He shadowed him and infected his mind like he was an internet conspiracy theory. Jaden McDaniels hates your team’s best player, he exists only to ruin their night, and MPJ was one of his easiest targets yet.
The thing with McDaniels, the thing that shined brightly in this one, is that his offensive package seems to expand nightly. An uber-efficient rim-attacker who swoops to the cup like a graceful raven, a mid-range moneyman and a blossoming playmaker, he didn’t even have to attempt a long-range jumper to have an awesome night on the offensive end.
First team.
Finished with 14 points (59.5% TS), 4 rebounds and 6 assists in 32 minutes — +15.2 net rating.
Kyle Anderson: 7/10
The team’s physio should probably be collecting a big fat chunk of his mid-level exception paycheck. He’s awesome, there’s no denying how fucking awesome he is, but right now those pesky back spasms are dragging him into the seventh circle of hell. As long as he is on the floor he is one of the most important players out there, but right now that’s a touch too infrequent.
Finished with 4 points (106.4% TS) and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes — +55.9 net rating.
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