{"id":7791,"date":"2024-05-13T13:43:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T13:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7791"},"modified":"2024-05-13T13:43:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T13:43:45","slug":"nba-playoffs-denver-nuggets-even-series-with-minnesota-timberwolves-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7791","title":{"rendered":"NBA Playoffs: Denver Nuggets even series with Minnesota Timberwolves 2-2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 16 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

Nikola Jokic\u00a0burned a double-team by finding\u00a0Kentavious Caldwell-Pope\u00a0open for a 3 then notched a steal and hit a streaking\u00a0Michael Porter Jr.\u00a0for a fast-break dunk before\u00a0Jamal Murray\u00a0collected another steal and swished a 55-foot heave at the buzzer.<\/p>\n

In the span of 20 dizzying seconds, the\u00a0Denver Nuggets\u00a0scored eight points to sprint into halftime of Sunday\u2019s Game 4 up by 15. The flurry left the\u00a0Minnesota Timberwolves\u00a0and the Target Center crowd stunned while propelling Denver to a\u00a0115-107 win\u00a0to even the Western Conference semifinal series at 2-2.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets left Denver on Thursday down 2-0 and feeling as if many had counted them out against the upstart Wolves. The Nuggets return to Colorado having reclaimed their championship swagger and with home-court advantage back in their pocket.<\/p>\n

Asked what his team found in Minneapolis during these two road games, Denver coach Michael Malone quoted former\u00a0Houston Rockets\u00a0coach Rudy Tomjanovich.<\/p>\n

Jamal Murray Photo Courtesy: AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I found is Rudy T is right, man,\u201d Malone said. \u201c\u2018Never underestimate the heart of a champion.\u2019 They were quick to write us off, but these guys, we won a championship a year ago. We went into Miami [in the NBA Finals], won two games in a row. This team has been tested time and time again, and we found a way to solve whatever\u2019s been thrown at us.<\/p>\n

Jamal Murray Photo Courtesy: AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThis series is a long way from being over. We\u2019re not celebrating. It\u2019s 2-2. \u2026 But what I found about our group is that they do believe in themselves. And more importantly, they believe in the man next to them. We have a group that is acting as you would hope a championship team would act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Edwards Photo Courtesy: AP<\/p>\n

Unlike their debacle in Game 2, when Minnesota\u2019s defense suffocated them 106-80, the Nuggets didn\u2019t just have an answer for everything the opponents threw at them Sunday \u2014 they took it to the Wolves.<\/p>\n

Despite 44 points from Minnesota\u2019s\u00a0Anthony Edwards, the Nuggets held\u00a0Karl-Anthony Towns\u00a0to 5-for-18 shooting.\u00a0Aaron Gordon, who led Denver with his versatility, switched between guarding the 7-foot Towns and the 6-foot-4 Edwards.<\/p>\n

Anthony Edwards Photo Courtesy: AP<\/p>\n

Gordon knew the Nuggets would respond the way they did this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love when people count us out,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cA lot of these guys have been counted out before in their career. They\u2019ve been the underdogs or the dark horse in their career before. They\u2019ve operated from that space before, having their backs against the wall, of being counted out.<\/p>

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Nikola Jokic\u00a0burned a double-team by finding\u00a0Kentavious Caldwell-Pope\u00a0open for a 3 then notched a steal and hit a streaking\u00a0Michael Porter Jr.\u00a0for a fast-break dunk before\u00a0Jamal Murray\u00a0collected another steal and swished a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}