Timberwolves slump in fourth quarter of 123-112 loss to Nuggets

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Nov 15, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — In winning four consecutive games, the Timberwolves have been feasting on bad teams.

But Saturday night presented more of a challenge in Denver, who has already beaten the Wolves once this season.

In a 123-112 loss to the Nuggets, on the tail end of a back-to-back, the Wolves kept the pattern alive of falling to the good teams they face.

Saturday’s was a closer game throughout than the previous 127-114 victory Denver had against the Wolves, even if the final scores were similar. The Wolves were within one after three quarters, but Denver dominated the fourth.

The statistical feeds were frozen at Target Center for most of the second half, but they couldn’t conceal the fact that Anthony Edwards had an off shooting night.

The Wolves had little offensive flow in the fourth quarter as Denver pulled away. Edwards and Julius Randle couldn’t get going, and the Wolves did little to involve Rudy Gobert in the offense as they have done successfully lately.

How it happened

The Wolves got off to a slow start against Denver’s zone defense, and the Nuggets raced out to a 17-7 lead in the first 4 minutes, 40 seconds. But the Wolves defense, which has struggled when Gobert is off the floor this season, picked up the intensity the rest of the quarter, especially when he went out. The Wolves were a minus-6 with Gobert on the floor in the first; they were a plus-8 with him off the floor. Naz Reid had a strong first quarter with seven points, three rebounds and three assists in seven minutes.

Reid continued that into the second quarter as he played 17 minutes without a break and finished the first half with 17 points. The Wolves took a 60-55 lead into the half despite Edwards shooting just 1 for 8.

The third quarter had some sloppy play on both sides, with neither team capitalizing on the other. The Wolves closed the quarter on a 6-0 run that turned a seven-point Denver lead to one, as Edwards struggled to 5-for-16 shooting through three quarters.

Denver wins non-Jokic minutes

One of the keys to beating Denver is to take advantage of the time center Nikola Jokic is off the floor. In the second quarter, Denver won those minutes by five points as Jamal Murray had nine over that stretch. Jokic rested 5 minutes, 5 seconds in the second quarter, the same amount of time Edwards rested for the Wolves. Denver led 43-40 when Jokic checked back in. Then the Wolves went on a 10-2 run against a double big lineup of Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas.

In the fourth quarter, Denver again won those minutes by seven and was leading 100-92 when Jokic and Edwards both re-entered the game.

Chippy night

There’s not a lot of love lost between the Wolves and Nuggets, who have squared off in the playoffs twice in the past three seasons. That emotion carried over to the floor. There was a lot of chirping between the two teams and a few moments officials had to take control. Reid picked up a technical foul after an exchange with Valanciunas, Gobert picked up a flagrant foul for an elbow to Tim Hardaway Jr. on a screen and Wolves coach Chris Finch picked up a technical arguing with officials.

Prince night

The Wolves brought back their purple-and-pink Prince-themed jerseys for the first time since the 2018-19 season. They also had a matching purple court, a night after they had their bright green NBA Cup court in their victory over Sacramento. The arena also played Prince’s music throughout the game.