NBA ROUNDUP : Timberwolves Walk Nuggets to First Victory

The Denver Nuggets, whose racehorse style had produced nothing but defeats in their seven starts, were reduced to a more normal game by the ball-control Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night and came away with their first victory of the season, 121-108.

The Timberwolves are 0-6 in Denver in their two seasons in the NBA.

The Nuggets, who averaged 137 points in their 0-7 start and yielded 153 a game, wanted to run but the Timberwolves’ slowdown style did not permit it. It turned out to be a help as the Nuggets hit 54.5% to 41.1 for Minnesota.

“I didn’t place any added significance on this game,” Denver Coach Paul Westhead said. “We tried to press and trap as much as we could, but if a team doesn’t want to shoot the ball, there is not much you can do to speed it up.”

Orlando Woolridge hit 11 of 16 shots and led the Nuggets with 25 points, Todd Lichti had 21 and Walter Davis 20. Corey Gaines had 16 assists in directing the Denver offense.

Minnesota had four players with 20 or more, topped by Tyrone Corbin and Tony Campbell with 24 apiece.

San Antonio 122, Sacramento 93--With Denver’s victory, there is only one winless team in the NBA. Terry Cummings scored 22 points and Sean Elliott had 19 at Sacramento as the Kings dropped to 0-6, the second-worst start in franchise history. The Kings lost their first seven games in 1988-89.

Portland 141, New York 125--Clyde Drexler scored 13 of his 31 points in a 42-point first quarter as the Trail Blazers (7-0) remained the NBA’s only unbeaten team.

Golden State 103, Chicago 93--Michael Jordan took only 12 shots at Oakland and scored 14 points. Golden State’s Chris Mullin scored 30 and Tim Hardaway had 23 as the Warriors earned their fourth victory in a row. Their 6-2 record is their best since the 1977-78 season.

Jordan had been averaging 29.3 points a game.

Orlando 102, Utah 99--Sam Vincent scored four of his 21 points in overtime as the Magic won its second game in a row at home after 16 consecutive losses there.