The 18,978 fans in Target Center Wednesday night was a sign. The second deck mostly filled, midweek? The fourth sellout of the season? Maybe the locals were starting to believe.
The Wolves were on a four-game winning streak. The last three at home. They entered Wednesday’s game with the Nuggets – a rematch of a Wolves win in Denver last week – fourth in the Western Conference, first in the Northwest Division.
And so, with just over 4 minutes left in the third quarter, the Wolves were leading by 18. The ball movement, the balance, it was all there.
Then:
Up 19 in the first half. Up 18 with 4-plus minutes left in the third, up nine with 2:50 left in regulation, the needed to go to overtime – and to have Jimmy Butler don his cape – to edge Denver 128-`15 in overtime.
Butler scored 39 points. He scored the first 11 Wolves points in overtime and 12 of the 14.
It was his pass to Jamal Crawford that set up Crawford’s jumper with 47.6 seconds left that put the Wolves up 127-125.
Butler grabbed the rebound of Jamal Murray’s missed three-pointer at the other end, was fouled and made one of two free throws with 16.4 seconds left to provide the final margin.
Butler also had four rebounds and five assists.
Andrew Wiggins scored 21, Karl-Anthony Towns had 14 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth.
Starting point guard Jeff Teague had 11 points and 10 assists before injuring what appeared to be his left leg late in the fourth quarter in the scrum following a jump ball.
Denver was led by Will Barton’s 28 points off the bench. His two free throws with 5.5 seconds left forced overtime.
Trey Lyles had 23 off the bench for Denver. Nikola Jokic had 22 points and Murray had 21.
Up 18 in the third, the Wolves were up nine with under 3 minutes left in the fourth. But the Nuggets never quit, with Barton forcing overtime with those two free throws.
It appeared the Nuggets would take control when Harris opened the overtime with a three-pointer
But Butler wouldn’t let the Wolves lose.
His 12 overtime points are the most by a Wolves player in an extra session ever.
Up 18 with 4:04 left in the third, the Nuggets ended the third quarter on a 14-2 run to pull within six. Then they started the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run to tie the game on Barton’s jumper 89 seconds into the fourth quarter.
It was a nail-biter from then on.
The Wolves came out firing in the first quarter, hitting on six of 11 three-pointers – four players had at least one – to lead 35-23 entering the second. All five Wolves starters scored in the quarter, led by Butler, who had nine.
The wolves led 8-5 early when they went on a 15-4 run – a run that featured consecutive three-pointers by Wiggins (two) and Butler – to take a 23-9 lead on Butler’s two free throws. That was as big as the lead got, but it was still 12 entering the second.
And then a lineup that included Towns and four bench players started the second quarter on a 7-0 run to push the lead to 19 on Gorgui Dieng’s three-pointer that put the Wolves up 42-23.
![Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) blocked a shot by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) in the first quarter Wednesday. ] AARON LAVINSKY ï aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com The Minnesota Timberwolves played the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.](http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/ows_151443348160174.jpg)
By the time the half ended the Wolves had made nine of 18 three-point shots, had shot 58.7 percent overall and had scored 71 points – their biggest half of the season.
But that first-quarter lead of 12 points only grew to 13.
The reason? Denver, 7-for-20 in the first half, scored 35 points in the second quarter on 14-for-24 shooting. Denver also made four of seven three-pointers in the quarter, during which they closed to within 10 points.
It looked like the Wolves were ready to put this one away when Wiggins scored to put the Wolves up 86-68 with just over 4 minutes left in the third quarter.
Not so much.
With Butler and Towns resting on the bench, the Nuggets came out of a time out and dropped a 13-0 run on the Wolves, pulling within 86-81 on Barton’s three-pointer. By the time the quarter was over what had been an 18-point lead in the quarter was down to 88-82 entering the fourth.