Denver at Minnesota: Takeaways

The Denver Nuggets were unable to overcome the Minnesota Timberwolves despite forcing overtime.

Despite getting Karl Anthony Towns to foul out and having four different players score 20 plus points, the Denver Nuggets were still overpowered by the young Minnesota Timberwolves.

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The game looked a bit ugly at first, but the second half was salvaged by Denver’s second unit led by Trey Lyles. Denver was down by double digits at the end of the first quarter, but they did not quit.

Lyles continues to be an efficient player while looking like a steal for the Nuggets. He finished with 23 points on 61.5% shooting and also grabbing 10 rebounds giving him a double double.

One major takeaway from this competitive game was the Nuggets’ resiliency. As eluded to already, Denver did not give up when the going got tough. Rather than rolling over and waving the white flag, they continued to battle until the end. The end result was a loss, but a loss where they forced overtime and did not go down without a fight.

Given the circumstances, being on the road, being on the back end of a back to back, one can’t be too dissatisfied with this outcome. It would have been another thing if this team gave up, but they did not. At the end of the day, that is all you can really ask.

The Nuggets were not able to extend their three game win streak, but they will have a few days to rest up and recover before they battle the young Philadelphia 76ers on December 30. In the meantime, they will be able to work out the kinks and figure out what went wrong in this particular loss.

Next: Recap: Denver at Minnesota

Yes, it hurts to lose, especially a game like this, but there were more positives than people realize from this game.