Bottle that. Bathe in it. Soak it into your pores. Let it wash over you and cleanse you of all that has come before. If the Timberwolves ever needed something to scrub them of their prior sins then it was now after their Atlanta debacle and it was against the team that brushed them aside in last season’s playoffs before steamrolling their way to a championship. They found the blueprint and they executed it with consummate verve, now they just need to bottle and bathe and soak and let it wash over them.
The game ends 110-89. A trouncing of the most satisfying variety. It’s easy to mark this one down as the off-night that it was for the Nuggets, but the Wolves made it so. They built this win on a sturdy foundation of defensive excellence and consistency. When the nervy moments inevitably reared their ugly head again, they didn’t let their demons whisper worries into their ears, they just kept doing what they were doing and that was more than enough.
Before seven minutes expired in the first quarter the Wolves had a 14-point lead. Denver, the unrattleables, sure looked rattled. The thing about those early leads, though, is that they take an army to protect. The Timberwolves know that all too well. They would have to win this game again and again. So they did. When Denver pushed back to end the first quarter the Wolves responded. When they opened the second half with a Jamal Murray flurry, they responded. Whenever it felt like that Atlanta game was creeping back into their psyche, they responded.
Bottle it up and do it again.
Mike Conley: 10/10
If there was one man who can be trusted to bounce back it’s him. He’s seen it all, lived it, fucking swam through the choppiest of waters and came out the other side. Apparently, it was food poisoning that strangled his talents in Atlanta, but this time he was the one doing the strangling.
The beginning of the game and the beginning of the third period felt like the most important phases of the night and he was the most prevalent Wolf in both of them. He was knocking down triples off the bounce, scuttling to the front of the rim for his patented floater, and making great decision after great decision as a floor general. He defended manically off the ball, getting around screens and sticking with shooters, and he did his part when he was asked to guard the ball.
This was vintage Conley. It’s always vintage Conley. Uncork him, decant him, and drink in his specialness.
Finished with 17 points (94.4% TS), 3 rebounds and 6 assists in 27 minutes — +35.4 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 8/10
He still wasn’t right there at his volcanic best, but he is building toward it and doing so without commandeering proceedings. When that volcano does erupt, it’s only fair that the rest of the team evacuate the area and let him scorch the fucking earth, but until then he needs to keep playing with this same sort of tempered brilliance.
Tempered brilliance. That fits his night nicely. We still got the flashes; the bullying drives, the shot-creating mastery, the oohs and the aahs. However, because that volcano is still only simmering, he chased it with more of the stuff that goes unnoticed.
His closeouts, off-ball rotations, and shot-contests defensively were as good as we’ve ever seen them. All game long. There is no glory in those things but the scoreboard appreciates them. He still settled for too many mid-range jumpers — that’s becoming a problem — but he insulated them by moving the ball and greasing the wheels of the offense, even when it wouldn’t end in the homerun assist.
That’s just winning basketball.
Finished with 24 points (61.5% TS), 2 rebounds and 2 steals in 32 minutes — +20.1 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 9/10
I love that he shoves dudes occasionally. Fucking adore it. The furnace inside him is consistently sweltering and that’s what makes him this team’s not-so-secret weapon. That’s what allows him to go out there and clamp the manacles on one of the league’s most fearsome guards. He burns bright and hot and a little wayward, but this team needs some fire.
Jamal Murray felt the singe. All night. He is like a swarm of hornets. As soon as Murray seemed to get an inch of relief, there he was again, stinging and buzzing and pestering to no end. He wasn’t at his very best offensively, but he made two very timely buckets to stymy Denver’s third-quarter run and he consistently made hay on both the offensive and defensive glass.
The Timberwolves are the best defense in the league and he’s in the cockpit, interior furnace burning ever hotter with each foul call.
Finished with 6 points (60% TS), 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 21 minutes — +48.3 net rating.
Karl-Anthony Towns: 8/10
Better.
Not the elegant scoring wizard that we’ve seen on so many nights over so many years, but better. Sometimes you have to grind out a performance. Sometimes you have to wade through the mud to get to the destination. He finished this one muddy and victorious.
The pouting and stroppy attitude is tiresome, but it’s a little easier to digest when he is accompanying it with legitimate productivity. On both ends. They stuck him on the Serbian sudoku and he solved him as well as anybody could. Jokic did and always will get his, but Towns was grizzled and stout in his defense and consistently forced him into tough shots while the rest of the Wolves barricades Jokic’s passing lanes.
The shot still isn’t really there and he is pressing a little too much offensively, but through hell, high water and horrible officiating, he found ways to remain effective as a scorer.
Better.
Finished with 21 points (48.5% TS), 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in 31 minutes — +36.7 net rating.
Rudy Gobert: 9/10
There are very few players who can miss all seven of their field goal attempts and still control a game. He’s one of them. This version of him is one of them. He spent the night treating Aaron Gordon like a shitty Halloween decoration and roved the floor like a big French tank instead. And, while Gordon cowered over the thought of attempting a wide-open jumper, Gobert sliced Denver’s offense into little chunks of hapless sludge.
He contested everything. He rotated to everything. He blocked everything. Whenever a Nugget felt open, there he was, Jaden McDaniels by his side and the Great Wall of Minnesota built steadfast.
He’s been the team’s best player this season. The best defender in the whole fucking shebang. He’s sitting on his throne again. Fuck your first round picks.
Finished with 4 points (22.8% TS), 12 rebounds and 2 blocks in 32 minutes — +24.0 net rating.
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