Friday night’s 111-98 blowout of Denver by the Timberwolves moved them into a first-place tie in the Western Conference and the reigning NBA champion Nuggets into third place. Anthony Edwards scored 25 points and Mike Conley added 23.

The Nuggets (51-23) lost by half a game to the Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder, who defeated Phoenix 125-108 on Friday night after the Nuggets failed to score 100 points for the second straight game.

The Nuggets lost their second straight game at home without their star point guard Jamal Murray (ankle, knee) for the fourth straight game, and once again, their lack of depth was evident as their bench offered very little support.

MVP favorite Nikola Jokic, who had back-to-back embarrassing mistakes to end the third quarter and missed 11 of his first 17 shots against Minnesota’s relentless double teams before rallying to finish with 32 points, was the player who missed Murray the most.

Minneapolis, which has won four straight, added 21 points from Rudy Gobert. The Timberwolves, who were playing on the court where their previous season’s playoff run ended, seized the lead early on thanks to a go-forward alley-oop dunk by Nikola Gobert and never looked back as they easily won their largest game of the year.

After going 15-2 during the All-Star break, the Nuggets are on a steep decline and have lost their last two games at home this season. Phoenix defeated them on Wednesday night, 104-97.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are the Nuggets’ Sunday matinee opponent, and Michael Malone, the coach of the team, hinted that Murray would miss it. Malone, though, was optimistic that his star point guard wouldn’t be out of the game for very long.

Malone stated, “I do believe he will be back on the court before the playoffs start” in mid-April.

When he comes back, the Nuggets may have already lost the coveted No. 1 seed that helped them win their first NBA championship the previous summer and may not be able to get it again.

With 13 points from Jaden McDaniels in the first half, the Wolves took a 62-43 lead into the intermission and were never in danger again.

This was the Timberwolves’ first game after Glen Taylor, the team’s owner, announced on Thursday that he would not complete the last phase of his protracted $1.5 billion agreement, which would have given Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez the majority ownership of the organization.

This is the definition of “above your pay grade,” according to Timberwolves coach Chris Finch, who made this statement prior to tip-off. It’s business as usual for us. Nothing has rippled down to the troop level here.

During his pregame press conference, Malone added his commentary to the Wolves’ ownership controversy, complimenting Edwards’ physicality and agility. He also mentioned that Minnesota had just achieved 50 wins for the fifth time in team history.

Malone declared that Minnesota had “much to be excited about.” “Neither would I sell the team.”

On April 10, the teams return to action in Denver.