Anthony Edwards and Wolves defeated Nikola Jokic and Nuggets on their home floor

DENVER – Anthony Edwards shared the floor Saturday night with Nikola Jokic, the two-time NBA MVP who is favored to win his third.

He was at Jokic’s Ball Arena and his Timberwolves were taking on the defending champions, displaying the level of composure and late-game execution that these Wolves could only dream of a season ago.

But in a 106-99 win over the Wolves to open their second round Western Conference playoff series, Edwards and the Wolves stole the Joker’s thunder. “Ant” was the best player on the floor and his team defeated the vaunted Nuggets in clutch moments.

“He’s a superstar in the making, if he isn’t now,” center Naz Reid said.

Edwards once again put on a show for all to enjoy as his stardom continued to rise with a playoff career-high 43 points, including 25 of Wolves’ only 40 points in the first half. He sank multiple dagger midrange, fadeaway jumpers in the final minutes and finished 17-for-29 with seven rebounds and three assists.

“It’s hard to beat this team,” Edwards said. “We come in and we know it’s going to be a war. And we just stay in the game. We play in the game. They’re making runs, we know we gotta make our runs. We’re just fighting, man. It’s going to be become a battle.”

Jokic finished with a typically gaudy stat line — 32 points, nine rebounds, eight assists — but the Wolves defense was able to confuse him just enough in the final minutes to seize control of the game.

Reid forced Jokic, who finished with seven turnovers, to travel into the backcourt with just under eight minutes to play to set up a Wolves run. When the Wolves led 96-91 with less than three minutes left, Rudy Gobert read a lob that Jokic tried to throw to Aaron Gordon, and Gobert got away with the steal. He also played tough defense on a late possession that forced a Jokic miss at the rim.

“Jokic is a very smart player, but I think I am also a very smart defender,” Gobert said. “Sometimes you’re going to win some, sometimes I’m going to win some, and always try to stay one step ahead in those situations.”

The Wolves also limited Denver guard Jamal Murray, who entered questionable due to a calf injury, to 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting. But even with their strong defensive effort, the Wolves will likely lose Saturday’s game in their season-ago series against Denver due to late execution. Game 1 was a full-throated announcement from the Wolves that they are a different team and that the Nuggets are likely in for an intense battle if they want to retain their crown.

Edwards comes for it.

“Against the best player in the world is always fun, and against the best team in the world is always fun,” Edwards said. “… They’re not going to beat themselves and I feel like our coaching staff did a great job of game planning over the three or four days that they had, and our guys came out and competed tonight.”

About that coaching staff: Coach Chris Finch, who had undergone surgery on the right patellar tendon, sat just behind the bench while assistant Micah Nori patrolled the sideline. The two together help make the calls that resulted in a Wolves win.

They also helped the Wolves wake up after Edwards was the only offense the Wolves had in the first half. Edwards went 10-for-17, the rest of the team went 6-for-27 at the break and the Wolves trailed 44-40 after starting the game with an 18-4 lead.

Towns and Mike Conley each revived the offense in the third quarter with 11 points each. The Wolves scored 71% in the second half, after 36% in the first.

“Ant shot all the balls in the first half, so it was hard to get into a rhythm,” Conley joked. “… I can easily wait until the second half. I’ve done that a lot throughout my career. I’ve done that a lot this season. I know the guys trust me to be aggressive.”

BOX SCORE: Wolves 106, Denver 99

Edwards also got help during the fourth quarter, when Reid announced his arrival to the series. He didn’t look good in the first half with zero points and two turnovers. But when he nailed a late bell three with 5:56 to play, it seemed to spark something in him. He then had a monstrous putback dunk and buried another three as part of a 14-point fourth quarter. He finished with 16.

“There’s a lot of growth in Naz, man,” Edwards said. “He didn’t check out. He didn’t worry about his goals or misses, he just kept playing.”

Edwards also got help offensively from Gobert, who had a pair of buckets. But it was Edwards who provided the haymakers: multiple fadeaway jumpers, the kind that take the opponent’s breath away. That whooshing sound was audible in Phoenix when Edwards did it, and it was audible in Denver when Edwards did it again, like when he backed up Kentavious Caldwell-Pope down the left sideline and nailed a 14-footer to put the Wolves up 11. 1:36 to play.

A dagger and the first blood in the series.

Like Kevin Durant in the Phoenix series, Jokic couldn’t help but marvel at his primary foe.

“I have a lot of respect for him,” Jokic said. “He can do everything on the floor. You have to enjoy and respect your opponent, how good and talented he is.”