Nikola Jokic scored 35 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Denver Nuggets held on for a 115-112 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Michael Porter Jr. added 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting for the Nuggets (48-21), who bounced back from a buzzer-beater loss against the Dallas Mavericks two days earlier. Denver’s Jamal Murray (18 points, 11 assists) and Aaron Gordon (14 points, 11 rebounds) each registered double-doubles.
Porter made two free throws to push Denver’s lead to 113-109 with 7.6 seconds left.
McDaniels sank a 3-pointer to make it 113-112 with 5.6 seconds to go, and Murray followed by making two free throws. Edwards couldn’t connect on a last-second 3-point attempt to force overtime.
The Nuggets held onto an 87-84 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Minnesota outscored Denver 29-17 in the third quarter to set up a back-and-forth finish. The Timberwolves trailed by 15 points at halftime but opened the second half on a 17-5 run to slice the deficit to 75-72.
Edwards made a jump shot to give Minnesota an 84-82 lead with 2:16 remaining in the third quarter. Jokic made a jump shot and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a 3-pointer in the final minute to put Denver back on top by three points.
Denver held a 70-55 lead at the half.
The Nuggets had a 15-point halftime lead by shooting 60% from the floor against the league’s top-ranked defense, which was a vastly different in the paint without the long arms of Gobert.
The Nuggets built a double-digit lead in the first quarter against the Timberwolves, who started slowly on the second night of a back-to-back set. Caldwell-Pope made a 3-pointer to give Denver a 24-14 lead with 4:46 to go in the first.
Minnesota climbed within 35-28 at the end of the opening period.
The Nuggets outscored the Timberwolves 35-27 in the second quarter to increase their lead to 15 points going into the break
But the Nuggets hit all the free throws they needed to down the stretch to seal it.
The Timberwolves played at home for the first time in 15 days and without their top three big men, a case of bad timing against the defending champions and Jokic.
With Karl-Anthony Towns (knee) out indefinitely and Rudy Gobert (ribs) sidelined for a third straight game, Naz Reid (head) joined them on the inactive list after getting hurt the night before in a win at Utah. Jokic had 40 pounds and three inches on Kyle Anderson, who with Garza drew the bulk of the work defending the two-time NBA MVP.
After pushing the Nuggets hard in a six-game loss in the first round of the playoffs last year, the Timberwolves won their first meeting of the season 110-89 on Nov. 1.