Nuggets-Timberwolves Grades: Barton, Lyles shine

The Denver Nuggets came back from a 19-point deficit in tonight’s second half but fell 128-125 in overtime to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jimmy Butler scored a game-high 39 points and had 12 of Minnesota’s 14 points in the extra period to lift the Timberwolves to a thrilling win.

Here’s how each Nuggets player performed.

Jamal Murray (B+) – After Murray went scoreless in the first quarter, it was looking like a let-down performance from the point guard after his game-high 22 points in Utah 24 hours ago. But Murray responded with 13 points in the second and filled up the box score with 21 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Murray went just 2-9 from three tonight but hit a couple key buckets in the fourth quarter. Murray also missed a bunch of makeable shots tonight in Minnesota.

Gary Harris (B-) – Tonight was an outlier of a performance from Harris after he’d been scoring more than 19 points per game in December. Harris scored just 10 points in 41 minutes but found a way to still impact the game with six assists. Harris spent a lot of time on Butler tonight. That’s a tough matchup for the 6-foot-4 guard.

Wilson Chandler (B) – Chandler had a quiet game but he battled. He checked both Wiggins and Butler at times — two offensively gifted wings who are tough assignments for any defender.

Nikola Jokic (B+) – The Serbian lived at the line tonight. He went 11-12 from the stripe and scored 22 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists. His ankle looks close to 100 percent and two days of no games should do him good before a matchup with Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.

Mason Plumlee (B) – Plumlee dislocated the pinky finger on his left hand two games ago in Golden State and sometimes it still looks like he’s playing with one hand. But Plumlee battled Towns for the 25 minutes he logged and eventually, Towns fouled out late in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t all Plumlee’s doing but he made life difficult at times for the big man.

Will Barton (A+) – Barton, along with Trey Lyles, keyed Denver’s 19-point second-half comeback and without both their efforts, the Nuggets would have lost by 20-plus points. The Nuggets’ sixth-man scored a team-high 28 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Barton found his groove and shot 4-8 from three after only converting on two of his last 22 tries from distance. Barton was a team-high plus-11.

Trey Lyles (A+) – Lyles continues to be one of the biggest surprises from this season that’s about one-third of the way through. He was already leading the league in bench points per game in the month of December prior to tonight and registered 23 points on 8-13 shooting against the Timberwolves. Lyles also chipped in 10 rebounds and was a plus-seven overall.

Torrey Craig (A) – Craig played just 11 minutes which is tied the lowest amount he’s logged since his most recent G League call-up but the forward faired well. Craig had a stellar sequence in the first half where the 27-year-old played great defense on Butler on one end of the floor and tipped in a missed shot on the offensive end a few moments later. Craig was able to spell Denver’s starters by guarding Butler and Wiggins effectively. He could have used a few more minutes tonight.

Darrell Arthur (Inc.) – Arthur played five minutes and Nuggets coach Michael Malone went to his seldom-used veteran in the first half with his team in a big hole looking for a spark of any sort. Arthur looked rusty — as he should. This was his first action since he logged 15 minutes in a Dec. 12 win in Detroit. Arthur was a minus-five in those five minutes.

Denver could have easily folded down 19 points in the first half on a back-to-back and flown home to Denver still riding high from their recent three-game win streak. They didn’t. The Nuggets were shown some adversity and answered the call. Malone doesn’t like to label losses as moral victories but Denver can take a lot from their performance tonight.