The China Mail - Timberwolves battle back to stun Nuggets in NBA playoffs

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.

- Cavs in control -

"It's not a series until you get one on the road -- and we've got one," McCollum said. "We're tough, we're young, but we're gaining experience by the day.

"We didn't play our best basketball tonight but we gave ourselves a bunch of chances and we did enough to win."

Donovan Mitchell and James Harden combined for 58 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Toronto Raptors 115-105 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference series.

Fourth seeds Cleveland, convincing 126-113 victors in game one on Saturday, once again proved too strong for fifth-seeded Toronto as they powered to a wire-to-wire victory.

Mitchell scored 30 points including four three-pointers while Harden finished with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Evan Mobley also had a big night for the Cavs, weighing in with 25 points from an efficient 11-of-13 shooting display.

The Cavs' victory provided more evidence that the offensive partnership between Mitchell and the 36-year-old Harden, who was traded to the team in February, is blossoming at the right time for Cleveland.

"He's been doing it a little bit longer than me but we've still been doing it for a long time -- just trying to find ways to win," Mitchell said of Harden.

"Whether it's passing, it's rebounding, getting stops -- when you have two guys who are trying to chase the same thing, it definitely helps for sure," Mitchell added.

Toronto's scoring was led by Scottie Barnes with 26 points while RJ Barrett added 22.

Game three of the series takes place in Toronto on Thursday.

X.So--ThChM