Anthony Edwards after Timberwolves Game 1 playoff loss at Denver: ‘We’re good’

Anthony Edwards after playoff loss at Denver: 'We're good, it's Game 1'

Timberwolves players Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert spoke with reporters after Saturday's 116-105 loss at the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the NBA Playoffs. Game 2 is set for Monday night.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Timberwolves trail the Denver Nuggets in their best-of-seven playoff series a 1-0 after a 116-1055 loss Saturday afternoon.

Anthony Edwards isn’t stressing. In fact, the TV broadcast showed him smiling and high-5ing teammates in the final seconds of regulation as if they had won. The message was simple: It’s a seven-game series.

Anthony Edwards: ‘We’re good, it’s Game 1’

The backstory:

The Timberwolves led 33-23 after the first quarter, only to get out-scored in the second and third quarters by a combined 22 points. The Timberwolves got within two in the fourth quarter before the Nuggets pulled away.

The Amazon Prime broadcast showed Edwards laughing and smiling, even dapping up teammates before they left the floor. Edwards had 22 points and nine rebounds, but shot just 7-of-19 from the floor as he plays through a right knee injury.

"I was just telling the guys with like 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter, ‘We’re good. It’s Game 1.’ They did their job, they won the first game on their floor, we would’ve loved to win the first game and ruffle some feathers," Edwards said after the loss. "But they came out and competed a high level and did their job. We should be ready next game to come out here and do what we gotta do to get a win."

Rudy Gobert: ‘We played with the right mindset’

The key play:

Rudy Gobert had 17 points, 10 rebounds and two assists, and had the task much of the game of defending Nikola Jokic, an MVP candidate. Jokic finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.

The key play came about halfway through the fourth quarter. Ayo Dosunmu scored to get the Timberwolves within 97-95 after they trailed by as many as 15. But the next trip down the floor, Jokic scored, leaned into Gobert and got a foul call. The Nuggets pulled away from there.

"I felt like we played with the right mindset, we just gotta sustain adversity a little better, mentally more than anything. We gave ourself a chance to win, we’re down five with two minutes left, a little more mental toughness and we can feed that over," Gobert said.

Game 2 Monday night

What's next:

The series continues in Denver Monday night, as Game 2 is scheduled for a 9:30 p.m. tip. The Timberwolves will be desperate to avoid being down in the series 0-2 as it shifts back to Target Center Thursday night.