If you thought the Nuggets’ loss to the Los Angeles Clippers was bad, Sunday’s made that one seem like a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Falling apart in the second half against Minnesota, the Nuggets lost 106-100 to a team that had won only once — on opening night, to the still-winless New Jersey Nets.
This was the most perplexing loss by any NBA team this season.
And you thought the Tiger Woods crash was mysterious.
In the third quarter, the Timberwolves trailed by 14 but stormed back into the game, playing with Nuggets-like confidence. It seemed they surely would slow down their pace, but they just didn’t.
Down double-digits since early on, the Wolves actually took the lead at 6:57 in the third, 68-67, and they entered the fourth quarter up 81-76. Perhaps the epitomizing play was when Minnesota’s Corey Brewer shot a low-percentage jump shot from the top of the key, right in front of the 3-point line, with Arron Afflalo’s hand in his face. The basket splashed, ho-hum.
The evening started off breezy for the Nuggets, who outscored the Wolves 40-25 in the first quarter. Carmelo Anthony, fresh off 50 points against the Knicks, scored 19 in the first, on 7-for-11 shooting, and seemed to be scoring even when he wasn’t trying (on one particular play, he was grabbed hard under the basket by Damien Wilkens and simply whipped the ball into the air, and it bounced on the rim and in, while Melo smirked). It seemed like 50 would be even easier this night.
And in that first quarter, Kenyon Martin scored 11 points, including a rare 3-pointer (the guy averages just 10.3 points per game).
And by the half, the Nuggets still led by 14, 64-50, and already had 19 assists.
But Anthony didn’t score in his four second-quarter minutes and didn’t score again until the 1:50 mark in the third quarter, when Denver was amid a surreal tight game.
Anthony, the NBA’s leading scorer, did finish the night with 32 points. But with Denver down four and 28.4 seconds left, Anthony fouled Wilkens with one second on the shot clock. Wilkens made them both, and fans flocked to the exits.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
