Jaden McDaniels led a spirited defensive effort, reserve Ayo Dosunmu delivered a team-high 25 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves held the Denver Nuggets to a season-low shooting percentage en route to a 113-96 victory in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series in Minneapolis yesterday (Philippine time).

The Timberwolves hold a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven set.

McDaniels finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Anthony Edwards chipped in 17 points for the sixth-seeded Timberwolves, who scored 14 of the game’s first 18 points and never looked back.

Hounded much of the night by McDaniels, Jamal Murray shot just 5-for-17, missed all five of his three-point attempts and totaled just 16 points for the Nuggets.

Nikola Jokic was the game’s leading scorer with 27 points and leading rebounder with 15.

After both teams reached triple figures in scoring in the first two games and McDaniels labeled all of the Nuggets defensively challenged, Minnesota set a defensive tone right from the opening tip of its first home game in the series.

The Timberwolves’ defense was particularly impressive in the first half.

Denver had only four points in the game’s first seven minutes, during which Minnesota built its first double-digit lead at 14-4. McDaniels had a three-point play on a dunk and two other interior hoops while singlehandedly outscoring the visitors 7-4 over the run.

Minnesota went on to lead 25-11 by quarter’s end before going up by as many as 23 in the second period. The closest the Nuggets got in the second half was 12, that coming in the final two minutes.

Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert snatched a team-high 12 rebounds to go with 10 points. Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo chipped in with 15 points apiece, with DiVincenzo adding a game-high seven assists.

Tim Hardaway, Jr. logged 11 points and Zeke Nnaji 10 off the bench for the Nuggets. (Field Level Media / Reuters)