Game 4 star Ayo Dosunmu ended up watching the Wolves’ Game 6 clincher in street clothes due to injury.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The injury-ravaged Minnesota Timberwolves lost two more key players for Game 6 of their first-round NBA playoff series on Friday against the Denver Nuggets, scratching guard Ayo Dosunmu with a sore right calf and forward Kyle Anderson with an illness. The news was first reported by ESPN.
Despite the absences of Anderson and Dosunmu, the Wolves ousted the Nuggets with a 110-98 victory.
The fifth-year veteran, a trade deadline acquisition from the Bulls, has averaged a career-best 15.0 points along with 3.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists. He’s done it efficiently as well, knocking down 51.7% of his attempts, including 43.9% from 3-point range.
It didn’t faze the Wolves on Thursday, as they closed out the series with a 110-98 victory. Minnesota advances to take on the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals.
After sparkplug Donte DiVincenzo went down with a ruptured right Achilles tendon in the first minute of Game 4 and All-Star Anthony Edwards was sidelined with a bone bruise in his left knee in the second quarter, the Timberwolves beat the Nuggets 112-96 on Saturday behind a career-high 43 points from Dosunmu.
The injuries caught up to Minnesota in Denver for Game 5 during a 125-113 defeat on Monday that pulled the Nuggets within 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. With the backcourt thinned significantly, coach Chris Finch put 19th-year veteran Mike Conley and 2024 first-round draft pick Terrence Shannon in the starting lineup.
Backup guard Bones Hyland was listed on the injury report with a sore left knee, but he was available off the bench. Jaylen Clark, who played sparingly during the regular season, was also in line to join the backcourt rotation. Anderson has been a deeper reserve since rejoining the Timberwolves last month, but he would’ve given Finch another experienced and trustworthy option to help fill the injury voids.
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— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 30, 2026
DiVincenzo visited the team’s morning shootaround on a scooter after having surgery on Sunday. Timberwolves players wore his jersey to the arena in tribute.
For the Nuggets, forwards Aaron Gordon (left calf tightness) and Peyton Watson (strained right hamstring) were held out again. Gordon has missed three of the six games. Watson had yet to play.
