
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.