Reacts: Taking Stock of Timberwolves After Blowout Game 1 Loss to Nuggets

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Well, Game 1 didn’t go quite as expected for the Wolves in their opening battle with the Denver Nuggets, who absolutely demolished Minnesota 109-80.

• Karl-Anthony Towns had more turnovers and missed shots (14) than he did points (11).
• Anthony Edwards needed 15 shots to score 18 points and got in foul trouble in the third quarter.
• Wolves’ Head Coach Chris Finch’s team looked severely unprepared against a Nuggets team that came out determined to throw the first punch and wanted it more.
• Rudy Gobert nearly got played off the floor and didn’t look anywhere near 100% on either end of the floor.
• Mike Conley only took five shots and scored just eight points.
• Minnesota had an offensive rating of 63.2, a net rating of -75.7 and got outscored 25-12 in the nine minutes Towns, Edwards and Gobert played together.
• Denver shot 16/39 (41%) from 3, out-rebounded Minnesota 54-38, and outscored the Wolves 16-3 on the fast break.

No matter how you slice it, Game 1 was a night to forget for the Timberwolves and their fans.

Now that we’ve all had a day to digest arguably the worst game of the season, especially considering the stakes, let’s evaluate take stock of where the Timberwolves are at heading into a Game 2 that will determine the momentum of the series when it heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday night.

We’re asking three questions this week:

1) Will the Wolves steal Game 2 in Denver?

2) On a scale of 1-10, what is your confidence level in Chris Finch?

3) What do the Wolves need most in Game 2?

• KAT to dominate offensively
• A healthier Gobert
• More scoring from Conley
• More efficient play from Ant