The Minnesota Timberwolves fought to the very end in what became a Christmas Day thriller against the Denver Nuggets, but despite their efforts that drove the game into overtime, it wasn't enough to overcome Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in a 142-138 defeat. 

Denver clearly had the better of Minnesota throughout most of the game. The Nuggets outscored the Timberwolves handily in the first quarter, though Minnesota came right back and outscored the Nuggets in turn in the second. 

Coming out of the second half, though, Denver once again surged ahead added onto their lead with a 35 point third to seemingly put the game on ice with just the fourth to. 

They would have though wrong, though, as Minnesota came into the fourth revitalized and outscored Denver 37-23 to come all the way back and tie the game with a clutch three pointer by Anthony Edwards to tie the game with 1.1 seconds left on the clock and send it into overtime. 

It was a hard fought battle just to break even, but Minnesota's spirit was a constant throughout and payed off by the very end of regulation. 

"We're not going anywhere," Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said (via Timberwolves). I didn't think we played very good basketball in the third quarter. I though we were way better from that middle of the third quarter on. I thought we came out a little but flat to start the half. We're always going to respond."

Edwards' last second-heroics weren't the extent of his contributions to the game. Edwards turned in a stellar 44 point performance while shooting 14-25 from the field and 5-14 from three point range, including the game-saving triple. 

Edwards' 44 points set a new season-high and he was the X-factor his team needed to stay in the game. Minnesota continued their momentum from the fourth quarter into the beginning of overtime with a 9-0 run and Edwards scoring seven of those points.

But, that was when Jokic took his turn to take over. The Nuggets nailed three straight three pointers after falling behind early and Jokic scored 10 points in under two minutes to give Denver the lead again.

The Timberwolves continued to fight back but Edwards was ejected with just 20.5 seconds left in the game after receiving his second technical foul, depriving the Minnesota star of any more last-second opportunities to sway the game in the Timberwolves' favor. 

With their star out, Minnesota simply had to watch as the Nuggets scored six more points with free throws and snuck away with the game after a blood-pumping matchup between two Western Conference powerhouses.