Wolves rally past Nuggets, clinch equalizer

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Anthony Edwards scored 30 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves staged a double-digit fightback for a series-tying 119-114 upset of the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs on Monday.

A titanic duel in Denver saw the Wolves overturn an early 19-point deficit before a clinical fourth-quarter display sealed a crucial victory in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.

The Nuggets, 116-105 winners in game one on Saturday, picked up where they left off with a blistering first-quarter performance that pushed them into a 39-25 lead.

But the Timberwolves bounced back in the second quarter to tie the game 64-64 at halftime before edging the second half.

Edwards was backed by 24 points from Julius Randle while Donte DiVincenzo added 16.

Jamal Murray led the Denver scoring with 30 points while Nikola Jokic added 24 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists.

“We did what we expected to do,” Randle said.

“When you’re coming on the road to start a series you want to steal one. So, we did that, and now we go home and we’ve got two days to get our bodies right.”

CJ McCollum scored 32 points and led a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback as the Atlanta Hawks overturned a 12-point deficit to score a series-leveling 107-106 defeat of the New York Knicks.

Atlanta looked poised to fall 2-0 down in the series after trailing a confident Knicks line-up by as much as 14 points in the third quarter at Madison Square Garden.

But the Hawks roared back to life in the fourth quarter, hauling themselves back into the contest with an 11-0 run to take a 103-100 lead with under two minutes remaining.

A Jalen Brunson three-pointer tied it at 103-103 but McCollum calmly nailed a fadeaway jump shot to put Atlanta back in front before Jalen Johnson’s dunk gave the Hawks a 107-103 lead with 10 seconds remaining.

Another Brunson three-pointer cut the lead to 107-106 to set up a frantic finale, but Mikal Bridges missed an attempted buzzer-beater for New York and Atlanta claimed the win.

“It’s not a series until you get one on the road — and we’ve got one,” McCollum said.