Karl-Anthony Towns (#32) of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates after defeating the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Second-round Playoffs in Denver, U.S., May 19, 2024. /CFP
The Minnesota Timberwolves erased a 20-point deficit to stun Denver Nuggets 98-90, knocking the defending NBA champions out of the playoffs on Sunday as the Indiana Pacers ousted the New York Knicks.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Jaden McDaniels added 23 points and Anthony Edwards hit his stride late as the Timberwolves became the first team to come back from a halftime deficit of more than 11 points to win a game seven.
Edwards, who has emerged as a star for the Timberwolves at 22, said poise was the key to Minnesota's latest unlikely victory over three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.
Down by 15 at halftime, Minnesota trailed by 20 early in the third. But Denver went cold as Edwards found his range and the Timberwolves cut the deficit to one point going into the fourth quarter.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards yells as time runs out in the second half of Game 7 of NBA Western Conference Second-round Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets in Denver, U.S., May 19, 2024. /CFP
Edwards, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, said coach Chris Finch told him at the break to "play quicker."
"If they're going to continue to trap you, you got to make the right play and trust your teammates," Edwards said. "We were just poised throughout the entire game. We just fought, fought."
"And KAT played spectacular tonight," Edwards added of Towns. "He carried us tonight."
Jokic scored 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter. He added 19 rebounds and seven assists and Jamal Murray scored 35 points but both said the Nuggets just missed too many shots.
"I felt like we got the shots we wanted and the opportunities were there," Murray said.
The Timberwolves, who had rocked the Nuggets with two wins in Denver to open the series before dropping three straight games, closed it out with a blowout game six win and their final comeback triumph.
New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (#3) shoots past Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton during their Game 7 of NBA Eastern Conference Second-round Playoffs in New York, U.S., May 19, 2024. /CFP
The Pacers connected on an NBA playoff record of 67.1 percent of their shots, making 53 of their 79 attempts from the floor, in a 130-109 game-seven triumph over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 26 points while Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard added 20 each, as six Pacers players scored in double figures.
Donte DiVincenzo made nine three-pointers on the way to 39 points for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson scored 17 and handed out nine assists before departing with a broken left hand at the start of the fourth quarter, a final injury blow for the ravaged Knicks.
"Guys gave everything they had, and that's all you could ask," said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who was without Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic for the playoffs.
"It was a battle all year and there was nothing left to give at the end."
The Timberwolves will play the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals while the Pacers booked an Eastern Conference finals showdown with top-seeded Boston Celtics.