Ayo Dosunmu came off the bench to score a career-high 43 points on 13-for-17 shooting, and the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away for a 112-96 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
The victory, which gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, came at a cost to the Timberwolves, who lost two starters due to injury.
Anthony Edwards, a four-time All-Star and the team’s top scorer, left in the second quarter and did not return because of a left knee injury. Earlier in the first half, Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo injured his right leg on a non-contact play. Early reports indicated he might have ruptured his Achilles tendon.
Naz Reid added 17 points off the bench for Minnesota. Julius Randle finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Rudy Gobert grabbed a game-high-tying 15 rebounds to go along with four points.
Jamal Murray scored 30 points on 10-for-25 shooting to lead Denver. Nikola Jokic finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists. However, he shot 8-for-22 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point attempts.
Thunder 121, Suns 109
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a playoff-career-high 42 points to lift Oklahoma City to a road win over Phoenix.
The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player finished 15 of 18 from the floor with eight assists to give the Thunder a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series. Oklahoma City has won 11 consecutive first-round games. Playing without Jalen Williams, who suffered a hamstring strain in Wednesday’s Game 2 victory, the Thunder leaned even more heavily on Gilgeous-Alexander.
Dillon Brooks led the Suns with 33 points while Jalen Green added 26 points. Devin Booker scored 16 points, but was held to 6-of-16 shooting from the floor.
Knicks 114, Hawks 98
Karl Anthony-Towns totaled 20 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his first career playoff triple-double as New York earned a victory over host Atlanta and evened their Eastern Conference first-round series at two games apiece.
Towns ensured Game 5 on Tuesday in New York will not be an elimination game for the Knicks and also ensured the series returns to Atlanta for Game 6 on Thursday. Towns posted his fifth career triple-double in any game. He also notched the seventh postseason triple-double in New York’s history. Anunoby led the Knicks with 22 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth career playoff double-double.
CJ McCollum led the Hawks with 17 points but was held to three points after halftime. Nickell Alexander-Walker added 15 and hit five 3s, but the Hawks were a dreadful 10 of 41 (24.4%) from behind the arc.
Magic 113, Pistons 105
Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane scored 25 points apiece as Orlando withstood a fourth-quarter rally to beat visiting Detroit in Game 3 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
Banchero had 12 rebounds and nine assists for the eighth-seeded Magic, who improved to 7-1 in their last eight home postseason games, including play-in tournament games. Bane was 7-for-9 from 3-point range.
Cunningham scored 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter for the Pistons. Tobias Harris scored 23 points, Ausar Thompson had 17 and Duncan Robinson added 10.
–Field Level Media
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