The last time they took the floor, the Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the Houston Rockets, a team riding a 13-game losing streak.
The New Orleans Pelicans will try to end their season-worst five-game losing streak when they host the Timberwolves on Wednesday night.
The Pelicans’ streak seemed all but certain to reach five games when visiting Denver took a 19-point lead in the first half Tuesday night, but the home team fought back and took a one-point lead with less than a minute remaining.
Then Nikola Jokic put the finishing touch on his triple-double with a jump hook from the lane to give Denver a 99-98 lead with 16.9 seconds left. The precarious lead held up when New Orleans missed three shots in the final seconds.
Denver led 63-47 at halftime, but New Orleans had its best defensive half of the season when it held the Nuggets to 36 points in the second half.
CJ McCollum scored 20 points to lead six Pelicans scorers in double figures — three of them reserves off the bench.
The tone for the Timberwolves’ loss was set when the host Rockets scored the first nine points on their way to a 119-114 victory Monday.
Finch bemoaned the Wolves’ lack of “focus,” though Anthony Edwards scored 31 points and D’Angelo Russell matched his season high with 30.
The Wolves did welcome back center Rudy Gobert, who had missed the previous three games because of groin soreness. He finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting and added 16 rebounds and four blocks.
Edwards said he and his teammates have shown “a bad tendency” to not be focused early against teams with poor records, such as the Rockets, who have the worst record in the NBA after Tuesday.
The Pelicans defeated the Wolves 119-118 on Dec. 28 in New Orleans.
The season series will conclude in the regular-season finale for both teams April 9 in Minneapolis.
