Minnesota Timberwolves: Takeaways from win over Denver Nuggets

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ struggles from the 3-point line have been well-documented. But the tide shifted on Wednesday night in Denver.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Takeaways from win over Denver Nuggets

Karl-Anthony Towns is the only member of the Timberwolves roster shooting above league average from downtown, and D’Angelo Russell, Patrick Beverley and Malik Beasley are all major contributors shooting well below their career averages.

But for once, Minnesota’s shooting was a game-breaker in a good way in Wednesday night’s 124-107 win over the Nuggets in Denver. Minnesota set a franchise record with 16 makes from deep in the first half. Even while slowing down in the final two quarters, the Wolves finished with a 23-for-48 3-point mark for the game, a season-high for makes.

“Everything felt pretty loose and I thought the guys did a great job of staying in the flow,” head coach Chris Finch said on Wolves Live Postgame. “We obviously shot the ball well, but we generated a lot of really good, wide-open shots.

“We’ve said all season that at some point they’re going to go in. Tonight happened to be that night.”

Anthony Edwards making a career and franchise-high 10 treys on 14 attempts was all the more impressive considering many came on isolation pull-up moves. He was simply unconscious from start to finish.

The Wolves made nine of their 13 attempts from range in the first quarter en route to a 40-32 lead, their third time this season scoring at least 40 in the opening frame. Patrick Beverley opened with three straight makes before Edwards contributed a few of his own, and from there everyone got in on the action. Towns, Russell and Jaden McDaniels finished a combined 9-of-21 from downtown.

The victory makes a sweep of this quick two-game road trip for the Wolves and marks their first win against Denver since the thrilling “play-in” regular-season finale in 2018. Here are three other takeaways from the game.