Game Recap: Minnesota at Denver
By Mathew Huff
Denver couldn’t get the job done against Minnesota.
The Denver Nugget just could not keep up with the young Minnesota Timberwolves. Andrew Wiggins posterized Nikola Jokic with a huge dunk and that was pretty much the epitome of Denver’s night.
Andrew posted his second straight 40 point game as the Timberwolves took advantage of the short-handed Nuggets. Karl Anthony-Towns also had his way as he poured in 24 points and 19 rebounds to finish with a box plus/minus of +13.
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Gary Harris was the high point man for Denver as he finished with 22 points to go along with 2 steals. Newly acquired Mason Plumlee had his ups and downs in his debut. He scored 11 points on 50% shooting and almost had a double-double as he collected 9 boards.
However, his box plus/minus was terrible as it was at -19. Nikola Jokic had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds. However, he struggled mightily compared to the way he has been playing as of late. He only shot 31.6% from the field and had 5 personal fouls.
The bright spot was that he did log 4 blocks which was a welcome sign of defensive improvement from him. In order to illustrate how the game went for the Nuggets, just take a look at one of the players who led the team in box plus/minus.
One of the leaders was Johnny O’Bryant who finished with a box plus/minus of +2. Yes, that is correct, the man who only got 5 minutes of play and didn’t log a single point to go along with his 3 rebounds. Not a good chance to win when that is one of your best totals your team has in that statistical category.
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Denver looked like they were sluggish and the All-Star Break may benefit them in the long run.