Arron Afflalo scored 34 points and the Denver Nuggets handed the Minnesota Timberwolves their 12th straight loss with a 110-101 victory on Monday night.
J.J. Hickson had 16 points and 11 rebounds and the Nuggets shot 55 percent to cruise past the Timberwolves (5-28), by far the worst team in the Western Conference. Jusuf Nurkic scored 14 points and Ty Lawson added 12 assists for the Nuggets, whose reserves outscored Minnesota’s 47-10.
Gorgui Dieng tied a career high with 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Shabazz Muhammad added 19 points and six boards for Minnesota. The Timberwolves shot just 43 percent and have not won since Dec. 10 while playing without Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin.
Minnesota coach Flip Saunders missed the Timberwolves’ game against Denver on Monday night because of an illness.
Saunders has been battling the bug that has circulated through the team for a few days and was hopeful he could make it to the game after skipping the morning shootaround. But by Monday afternoon it became clear he wasn’t feeling well enough to coach, so assistant Sam Mitchell took over.
