DENVER
Kevin Love scored 33 points and tied a season high with 19 rebounds for his NBA-best 50th double-double this season, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the skidding Denver Nuggets 132-128 on Monday night for their third win in a row.
Love topped 30 points for the 11th time in his last 14 starts, helping Minnesota wrap up a 4-1 trip out west.
The Nuggets got a boost from the return of Ty Lawson, who scored a season-high 31 points with 11 assists in his first game since breaking his left rib Feb. 8 at Detroit. But it wasn’t enough to reverse their sagging fortunes. Denver lost its sixth straight and has dropped 11 of 12 overall.
Kevin Martin added 22 points for the Timberwolves, including four clutch free throws in the final 11.7 seconds. Minnesota finished with a huge advantage at the foul line, making 52-of-64 (81.3 percent) to Denver’s 16-of-25 (64 percent).
Trailing by 22 points after a layup by Nikola Pekovic midway through the third quarter, the Nuggets responded with a 13-2 run that Randy Foye finished with a 3-pointer to pull to 85-74 with 4:10 remaining in the period
