Wiggins nets 40 as Timberwolves beat Nuggets
DENVER -- Andrew Wiggins continued his torrid stretch with 40 points, his fourth 40-point game of the season, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 112-99 on Wednesday night.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points and a season-high 19 rebounds and Shabazz Muhammad scored 15 off the bench for Minnesota.
Wiggins followed up his 41-point performance against Cleveland on Tuesday with another great game. He has now scored 20 or more points in 15 straight games. He hit that total with 2:29 left in the first half and helped the Timberwolves take a 62-60 lead at the break.
He is the first player in franchise history to have four games of 40 or more points and is averaging 28.9 points in February.
Gary Harris scored 22 points and Jameer Nelson had 16 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for Denver. Mason Plumlee, acquired from Portland on Sunday, made his Denver debut with 11 points and nine rebounds.
The Nuggets played without five rotation players, including leading scorer Danilo Gallinari.
Nikola Jokic had 15 points and 14 rebounds but was bothered by Towns much of the night. He shot just 6-for-19 from the field.
The Nuggets (25-31) tied an NBA record with 24 made 3-pointers on 40 attempts in the rout of Golden State on Monday but couldn't find the range against Minnesota. They were 11-for-34 from behind arc Wednesday.
That wasn't the only place they struggled. They missed layups, short jumpers and twice had dunks rim out. They started the third quarter missing nine of their first 10 shots and began the fourth going 1-for-8.
Minnesota (22-35) took advantage of the cold shooting. The Timberwolves built an eight-point lead in the third and went up 92-81 on Nemanja Bjelica's 3-pointer early in the fourth.
Harris hit two 3-pointers to cut it to five but Wiggins scored four straight, including a dunk over Jokic, to put Minnesota ahead nine with 5:29 to play.
Denver got it down to seven with 2:06 left but a turnover led to another Bjelica basket and the Timberwolves closed it out.
NOTES: Nuggets Fs Wilson Chandler (illness) and Darrell Arthur (left knee soreness) missed their second consecutive games while F Danilo Gallinari (left groin strain), G Emmanuel Mudiay (low back soreness) and F Kenneth Faried (right ankle sprain) were out again. Gallinari has missed eight games, Mudiay 11 and Faried four. ... Minnesota G Lance Stephenson did not travel due to a left ankle sprain suffered in Tuesday's loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Stephenson signed a 10-day contract with the team on Feb. 8. ... Denver C Nikola Jokic was added to the NBA All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge on Saturday in New Orleans. Jokic replaced Philadelphia C Joel Embiid. ... Timberwolves F Adreian Payne has now missed eight games while being treated for thrombocytopenia.