The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 115-70 in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Thursday, tying the series 3-3.

Seventy set a new franchise record low of points scored by the Nuggets in the postseason and the 45 point differential is the team's worst loss in the playoffs. In fact, they had never got as few as 70 points in any game since Nikola Jokic arrived in the 2015-16 NBA campaign.

Thursday's loss could have been worse for the Nuggets because they trailed by 50 points (114-64) in the fourth quarter, but it was a foregone conclusion much earlier than that moment. The Nuggets started with a 9-2 lead, but then suffered 20-0 run. Having trailed by 17 points (31-14) after the first period, coach Michael Malone had Jokic continue to play at the beginning of the second quarter after playing through the first period.

When Jokic was replaced by Aaron Gordon at 8:53 in the second quarter, the Nuggets trailed by 13 points (34-21). He rested for less than two and a half minutes, as the deficit had grown to 19 points (43-24) by the time he came back. The game was already decided then.

The Timberwolves didn't have any new tricks up their sleeves. They just reimplemented well some of the old measures that proved effective previously in the series. For example, Anthony Edwards didn't force an attack on Jokic in every play. Instead, he launched more offense via isolation. His speed and power still made him unstoppable in front of the opponents' defenders, so he faced less double-teaming when he called fewer screens.

The Timberwolves also did well in guarding Jokic. They double-teamed him in the strong side and had their defenders from the weak side rotated quickly for help defense after the Nuggets moved the ball. In this way, the Timberwolves left Jokic less time to go to the low post. He was still able to pass to his teammates, but most of them did a poor job of launching second attack.

The quick footsteps of the Timberwolves' defenders who also have decent size and wingspan enabled them to contest both the shooting and the passing of the Nuggets when the ball was not in Jokic's hands. Moreover, the relatively loose referee calls in the first quarter encouraged them to get more physical, which made the Nuggets uncomfortable.

Nonetheless, the Timberwolves' defenders were not bending the hands of the Nuggets' players when they missed those open shots, both outside the 3-point line and in the middle range. The whole team of the Nuggets shot 26-for-86 from the field and 7-for-36 from downtown. Their backup unit didn't score any point until the fourth quarter. Not even one single of them was in the good form to win a playoff game, including Jokic and Jamala Murray.

By contrast, the Timberwolves built their momentum early at home after the 20-0 run in the first period. They didn't have the opponents' well-designed and refined ball movement, but they were young and fast enough to turn the game into an athletic battle and beat the Nuggets with their youth and energy.

Four of the six games between the Nuggets and the Timberwolves in the Western semifinals ended with a margin bigger than 10 points. When either side built the momentum, they were likely to win in the end. The Timberwolves preferred fast pace and more defensive physicality. The Nuggets needed discipline and patience in slow half-court offense.

Game 7 of the series will take place at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Sunday.