MINNEAPOLIS – If the Nuggets are anything, they’re consistent. A sluggish start is a thing. A solid third quarter is a thing.

But Nuggets coach Michael Malone is looking for a different kind of consistent. He’s looking for the kind that sees his team smooth out the rough edges and play solid wire-to-wire. He didn’t get that Thursday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.

But he did get a win.

Because this time the third quarter run was devastating enough to see the Nuggets through. They snapped a two-game skid by rallying to grab a 102-99 victory that evened their record on this five-game road trip to 1-1.

The Nuggets were relieved, but not satisfied.

“We need everybody ready to play starting in Detroit,” Malone said. “Because spotting teams the leads were spotting them – 15 points, 19 points in Toronto – we’re always playing uphill we’re always playing catch up and that’s not a good way to play.” Related Articles November 3, 2016 Nuggets’ Darrell Arthur back in uniform against the Timberwolves

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Said guard Emmanuel Mudiay: “We didn’t really even do good. We just lucked up and got the win, but we’ve got to learn how to play for 48 minutes. That’s the main thing. It seems like the third quarter is the biggest quarter where we come out and jump on teams. We’ve got to figure out how to play like that for the whole game.”

The third was the difference. In it, the Nuggets outscored Minnesota 33-14, shooting 61 percent from the field. They held the Timberwolves to 5-of-20 shooting in the quarter, which was a big deal because until then, they had few answers to stop the Wolves’ starting five, most notably Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine.

That trio, led by Towns, combined to score 51 of the Wolves’ 61 first-half points. Towns hit shots from the post to the 3-point line. Wiggins slashed to the basket and knocked down two 3-pointers as well. LaVine did the bulk of his damage at the 3-point line and in transition.

But their production was ground almost to a halt starting in the third quarter. The three combined to score 20 points on 7-of-19 shooting (36.8 percent) in the second half as the Nuggets’ defense stiffened and forced other players to make winning plays.

“The second half we just had to lock down and play defense if we wanted to win the game,” said Wilson Chandler, who also scored a season-high 19 points. “That’s pretty much it. We made them take tough shots. We got stops.”

But because these Nuggets are consistent in playing tight fourth quarters, another Wolves player did step up. Nemanja Bjelica caught fire, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the fourth, which was the heavy lifting the Timberwolves needed to get back into the game.

But the Nuggets never broke.

Though the Wolves closed the lead to two, they never took the lead back. Bjelica missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime. Instead, the Nuggets danced out with a much-needed victory on a road trip that’s about to pick up steam quickly.

The Nuggets also received 19 points from Danilo Gallinari and 18 from Jusuf Nurkic. Towns paced the Wolves with 32 points and 14 rebounds, while Wiggins added 25 points.

“We’re setting high goals for ourselves,” Malone said. “Every team talks about it, but we have to start living it.”