MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES 98, DENVER NUGGETS 90
May 19, 2024
TIMBERWOLVES NOTES
Player Notes
• Karl-Anthony Towns led the way tonight with a team-high-tying 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting, a team-high 12 rebounds and two steals, notching his second-consecutive double-double, his sixth double-double of this year’s playoffs and his 18th such playoff game of his career. Game 7 also marked his 12-career 20+ point playoff game, nine of which have been on the road, including all five of his 20+ point games in this year’s playoffs.
• Tonight also marks Towns’ fifth straight road playoff game with 20+ points. That’s the second-longest such streak in team postseason history (Edwards – six consecutive games: April 19, 2023 – May 6, 2024).
• Jaden McDaniels finished the night with a team-high-tying 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 from deep, six rebounds and two steals. Tonight marks his second consecutive 20+ point game and his fourth such game of his playoff career, three of which have come in this year’s playoffs.
• McDaniels is the first player in franchise history to score 20+ points on 70.0% shooting or better in back-to-back playoff games and just the ninth player in NBA Playoff history to do so aged 23 or younger.
• Anthony Edwards finished the night with 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals, marking his fifth 15+ point/5+ rebound/5+ assist/2+ steal game of this postseason and his eighth such game of his postseason career, only Kevin Garnett (11 games) has tallied more such playoff games in franchise history.
• Edwards passes Kobe Bryant for the third most playoff games with 15+ point/5+ rebounds/5+ assists/2+ steals by a player aged 22 or younger with only Magic Johnson (17 games) and LeBron James (14 games) having more such games. Edwards is the first player in NBA Playoff history aged 22 or younger to record such a stat line in a Game 7.
Team Notes
• With tonight’s win, the Timberwolves move to 2-0 in franchise history in Game 7’s and advance to the Western Conference Finals for just the second time in team history. The Wolves trailed by as many as 20 points before coming win, marking the largest comeback in a Game 7 in NBA Playoff history.
• After trailing 53-38 at halftime, the Timberwolves came back to win Game 7 in Denver. Prior to tonight, the largest lead a team had come back from in a Game 7 in NBA Playoff history was 11 (2X; MR: May 28, 2018; Golden State at Houston).
• The Timberwolves are the first team in NBA Playoff history to win a seven-game series after winning the first two games on the road, losing the next three games and winning the last two games.
• Minnesota outscored Denver by 28 points in the second half, marking the second largest point differential in any half in a Game 7 in NBA Playoff history (May 15, 2022; 30 points – first half; Dallas at Phoenix).
• Tonight marked the third time in this year’s playoff that all five Timberwolves starters scored 10+ points.
• Tonight marked the fourth time this postseason Minnesota had at least six double-digit scorers in a game. The Wolves had never had more than two such games in a single playoff run before 2024.
(info courtesy of Timberwolves)
