Wolves offense shines, Anthony Edwards sets franchise record in win over Nuggets

It was an uncharacteristic start for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

A Wolves team that often struggles out of the gates was moving the ball the best it had all season, and the team was scoring. At will. Knocking down shot after shot. The result was a 40-point opening frame, and Minnesota's offensive momentum never slowed in a 133-104 win over the Denver Nuggets Saturday afternoon at Target Center in Minneapolis.

"It certainly wasn't a defensive battle out there, so we were able to take advantage of that," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. "Got some good rhythm, got good looks early, and for the most part, I thought we sustained our offense all night. A month ago, six weeks ago, we probably couldn't have done that, so that's good growth by us."

Call it the Anthony Edwards flu game, perhaps. After all, ESPN revealed on its broadcast during the game that Edwards recently reached out to Michael Jordan for advice on dealing with double teams. And despite being a gametime decision for Saturday's game due to illness, Edwards scored a game-high 34 points and had nine assists and a rebound.

Edwards also became the franchise's all-time leader in made 3-pointers, hitting one from the logo for his third of the game and 976th of his career to surpass Karl-Anthony Towns as the Wolves' all-time leader.

"When I got here during his first season, I guess we would say he's a streaky shooter or maybe a little below average," Finch said. "I think that was primarily related to two things: One is he was just used to playing in a different rhythm. You know, dribble, have the ball in his hands, bring it up, full-court attacks, that kind of stuff. And shortly thereafter, I would say in the second season together, we realized he can really shoot the ball.

"And it's just been, he's just had to commit to it, just find opportunities to catch and shoot. The dribble 3, we've talked about that, it's real. In year two or so, we started to figure out that was real. And then it was just encouraging him to keep taking these shots because he's really good at them."

But it wasn't Edwards' shooting or scoring that was the driver of the hot offensive start for the Wolves (24-21), rather it was his passing. Edwards had twice as many assists (four) as he did points in the opening quarter. He ultimately finished with a team-high nine assists in a game the Wolves assisted on 38 of their 53 made baskets. The 38 assists were a season high.

It led to incredible 56% shooting marks from the field and 47% from 3-point range.

"We're just playing the right way," said Naz Reid, who had 13 points and four assists off the bench.

Nikola Jokic did his best to keep the Nuggets (28-17) within reach for a while, as did Jamal Murray, who scored a team-high 25 points. Jokic scored 13 of his 20 points in the first quarter and also had 11 assists for the game. But he also had seven turnovers and was kept mostly at bay over the final three quarters thanks to a big-time defensive effort from Rudy Gobert, who had 14 rebounds and four steals. Gobert had a big impact offensively, too, with 14 points and five assists.

The game got out of hand for the Nuggets in the third quarter when Edwards exploded for 16 points. Minnesota outscored Denver 38-31 in the quarter to take an 18-point advantage into the final frame. That lead quickly surpassed 20 points, and eventually both teams saw the end of their benches get extended minutes of action down the stretch.

Julius Randle tallied 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Jaden McDaniels added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Rob Dillingham and Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 10 points apiece off the bench. The only starter who did not finish in double figures was Mike Conley, who shot a perfect 3 for 3, all 3s, to finish with nine points and five assists.

The fans at a sold-out Target Center got to witness the Wolves put together their best offensive showing of the season. And as a cherry on top, Denver's Hunter Tyson missed a pair of free throws in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, resulting in free Chick-fil-A for all. The crowd went absolutely crazy.