Nuggets at T-Wolves final score: Minnesota hammers Denver in 117-90 blowout

There aren’t many teams with a more inconsistent track record than the Denver Nuggets, and the “bad” version of that particular NBA team reared its ugly head on Wednesday night. Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves raced to a 12-point lead after the 1st quarter, and from that point, it was an exercise in cruise control on the way to a 117-90 blowout victory.

Speaking of Kevin Love, the leading contender for “best power forward alive” submitted another highlight reel effort in this one. Love scored 32 points on 12-for-20 shooting (including 6-for-11 from 3-point range), and he added 11 rebounds and 8 assists to captain the Minnesota offense. In addition to Love, the Wolves got 22 points and 5 steals from Corey Brewer, 18 points on 8-for-8 shooting from JJ Barea, and an 11-points, 12-assist, 7-steal performance from point guard Ricky Rubio in order to overwhelm Denver.

As a team, the T-Wolves shot a blistering 52% from the field and 46% from 3-point land, and with that kind of production, the visiting Nuggets never had a prayer. With Ty Lawson on the sideline for Denver, the backcourt struggled visibly, and only a double-double from JJ Hickson (14 points, 13 rebounds) served as a statistical bright spot for the road team.

Minnesota is still on the outside looking in toward the playoffs with a 25-28 record, but with more showings like this, they’ll be back in the mix in short order.