The Timberwolves have been down practically 21 toes of top on their entrance line getting into a matchup with the MVP frontrunner in Denver heart Nikola Jokic. With Karl-Anthony Towns (knee), Rudy Gobert (rib) and Naz Reid (head harm) all out, the Wolves have been going to have to battle the Nuggets with out the weapon they’ve stockpiled to take down Denver — measurement.The Wolves nonetheless got here to play, and so they gave the Nuggets all they may deal with to the final second however finally did not have sufficient on both finish of the ground as Denver got here away with a 115-112 victory.Anthony Edwards had an open look at a three-pointer as time expired, however his shot from the left wing fell quick.NBA standingsWith the loss, the Wolves fell one game behind the Nuggets and Thunder for first place within the Western Conference.”We’re always going to battle,” coach Chris Finch mentioned. “Proud of the guys for that. … They got the momentum back and then we were chasing the game from there.”Thanks to a much-improved defensive effort within the second half, the Wolves took their largest lead of the game at 93-89, earlier than Jokic checked back in with 7 minutes, 10 seconds to play within the fourth. The Nuggets went on a 10-0 run over the following three minutes to reclaim the lead. Michael Porter Jr. had 13 of his 26 factors within the fourth whereas Jokic completed with 35. The Wolves received threes from Mike Conley and Jaden McDaniels within the remaining 12 seconds to arrange Edwards’ potential tying bucket that simply missed.Jokic added 16 rebounds whereas Aaron Gordon had 14 factors and 11 rebounds.Edwards did all he might to lead the Wolves with 30 factors on 13-for-26 capturing, eight rebounds and eight assists. But the Wolves could not hit sufficient from the surface to hold tempo with Denver. They shot solely 34% from three-point vary in contrast to 52% for Denver and have been 16-for-23 from the foul line. McDaniels had his finest offensive game shortly with 26 factors.”He’s got to keep it clean, keep it simple,” Finch mentioned of McDaniels. “Use his length, get downhill, use his finishing ability when he gets down there.”BOXSCORE: Denver 115, Timberwolves 112Already down three facilities, the Wolves misplaced the participant who was going to defend Jokic many of the night time, Kyle Anderson, to three fouls within the first three minutes. That meant a heavy dose of Luka Garza off the bench for the Wolves. Defensive rebounding was a problem for the Wolves early, as the Nuggets had 10 second-chance factors within the first quarter and led by as many as 11.”Regardless of who we have or don’t have, we were looking for shortcuts defensively in the first half,” Finch mentioned. “… We weren’t fighting people enough. Letting people go and we were afraid to touch them. We picked up the physicality in the second half and it made all the difference in the world.”The Wolves scrapped their approach back and have been inside 35-28 after one quarter.The Wolves stored the margin round that deficit for many of the second till Jokic checked back in within the latter half of the second quarter. The Nuggets shot 60% within the first half and prolonged their lead to as a lot as 18 behind 22 from Jokic and led 70-55 at the half. The Wolves opened the third on a 17-5 run that lower Denver’s lead to 75-72.Edwards was placing on a present, and after hitting a 3 to pull the Wolves inside one, Denver referred to as timeout and Edwards motioned for the gang to get louder. He had 30 via three, and the Wolves went into the fourth down 87-84. The Wolves started swarming Jokic and daring anybody however him to beat them. With Porter’s assist, the Nuggets did.