The Denver Nuggets lost tonight 119-116 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Denver’s second marquee matchup of the season.

After falling behind by nearly 20 points in the first half, the Nuggets fought all the way back and took the lead over the Timberwolves during the fourth quarter. The defense was tremendous, aided by some missed shots by the Timberwolves, and Denver finally got into a nice rhythm and looked like they were pulling away.

Then, Christian Braun did this.

It was an epic play, and unfortunately, it may have woken the T’Wolves out of their stupor. After the dunk, the T’Wolves closed on a 17-6 run, disrupting Denver’s offense and hitting some very impressive shots.

Ultimately, it wasn’t meant to be, with Nikola Jokic missing a contested three-pointer at the buzzer over Rudy Gobert in the right corner.

Anthony Edwards was dynamic, scoring 29 points and four assists on 11-of-23 from the field and 7-of-14 from three. He also guarded Jamal Murray for much of the game and effectively limited the Nuggets starting point guard to just six points and three assists before he exited due to injury.. The energy, physicality, and level of shooting that Edwards plays with is tremendous, and the Nuggets, despite solid defense from Christian Braun, had few answers.

Murray exited in the third quarter, entering concussion protocol after colliding with Julius Randle. The Nuggets were forced to change up some rotations as a result, but the fight they showed had Denver close the Wolves lead to

Nikola Jokic was excellent as always with 26 points, nine rebounds, and 13 assists. The starting lineup as a whole was tremendous, and Jokic orchestrated most of it with eight assists in the first half alone.

Aaron Gordon absolutely brought it tonight on both ends of the floor with 31 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 5-of-8 from three-point range. He was dynamic tonight, hitting some incredibly impressive shots to keep the Nuggets in the game and take the leap in the fourth quarter.

Michael Porter Jr. was similarly very good. He had 26 points and six rebounds on 11-of-18 from the field and 3-of-7 from three. His ability to scale up his shotmaking production without Murray on the floor is notable, and both he and Gordon anchored Denver’s bench lineup together to give the Nuggets the jumpstart they needed.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be for Denver.

Best Game of the Season

Nuggets fans aren’t going to be happy with the results, but this was the best showing of the Nuggets season to date and showed some real progress as a team.

The bench was unfortunately horrible overall. Dario Saric was once again unplayable, and Peyton Watson wasn’t much better tonight. Julian Strawther still looks very raw on both ends of the floor and only played 16 minutes tonight.

Even Hunter Tyson got in the game for Denver because they were desperate for anyone to make a play, rebound, and space. Tyson did a nice job. He will be in the rotation tomorrow.

But I’m still impressed with where Denver’s at. After being embarrassed by the Oklahoma City Thunder on opening night, the process for the Nuggets has been better every single game. The results weren’t there tonight, and there’s stuff to clean up, but that can happen over a long season.

What’s important is determining whether the Nuggets have the players around Jokic to ultimately progress to where they want to go. I thought Michael Porter, Aaron Gordon, and Christian Braun were good enough for that tonight. There are details to quibble with, but the big picture is still there.

The Nuggets need something else off the bench though, that much is clear to me.

Final Rotations