It will be a much different mood when they say goodbye to their coach on Saturday. The rookie was a +10 in 18 minutes and finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds in limited time. Saunders, 60, died of cancer last Sunday….
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“Go tomorrow as winners to go bury our coach”. “We stayed together as a team, something that we’ve been doing a lot this week”, said Towns. “This is definitely what Flip would have wanted, to be winners”. “With them being 6-foot-9 and lighter and me being 7-foot, that’s not supposed to happen”.
Leading up to the home opener, Denver players and coaches had hoped to show fans that this was indeed “A New Day” for the organization as the promotions had indicated. Though Towns occupies the frontcourt and Mudiay the backcourt, it didn’t take long on Friday night for the two to get well acquainted with one another. Malone said, “Just something that we’ll continue to discuss….” “I put the full responsibility on me being the point guard”. On behalf of the National Basketball Association, we offer our most honest condolences to Flip’s wife, Debbie, their four children and the entire Minnesota Timberwolves organization.
The clock began working again in the fourth quarter.
Denver simply had no answer for Minnesota rookie center Karl-Anthony Towns. Denver Nuggets’ guard Emmanuel Mudiay looks really good early in the season, averaging double-doubles, but for Scott, it is a matter of time. He also had two blocked shots to help Minnesota hold Denver to 31 percent shooting in the first two quarters. Even the Timberwolves’ late, great coach, though, couldn’t have imagined the future Hall of Famer’s influence paying such dividends so quickly.
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Nuggets: Wilson Chandler (hip) and Jusuf Nurkic (knee) didn’t play…. Pekovic had surgery on the tendon April 8…. Denver didn’t have the same crisp passing and tenacious defense it had in a 105-85 win at Houston on Wednesday. Timberwolves G Tyus Jones was inactive for the second straight game. This kid might possibly run away with the Rookie of the Year Award, barring huge seasons from other rookies across the league.
