On a night full of hugs, celebrations and high-powered offense, the Denver Nuggets got back to winning ways with a 128-116 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The win secured a sweep of the season series for the Nuggets, who used a balanced scoring attack to fuel their success. In their returns to Pepsi Center Malik Beasley finished with 17 points and eight rebounds while Juancho Hernangomez contributed seven points and four rebounds for Minnesota.
“That first quarter there was zero defense played by either team,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. “The turnovers were an issue once again tonight. A lot of guys stepped up. Paul was phenomenal, while guys off the bench were really impactful as well.”
Denver came out of the gates firing on all cylinders offensively. The Nuggets went 8 of 8 from the field in the first five minutes of the game which helped propel them to an early 21-12 lead. Paul Millsap racked up eight points during this stretch, with six of those points coming from beyond the arc. The 35-year old forward finished with 12 points in the frame. However, Minnesota battled back throughout the remainder of the quarter and Denver’s lead was cut to 43-38 heading into the second. Denver shot an astounding 17 of 20 from the field in the high-scoring quarter.