MINNEAPOLIS >> Maybe the Timberwolves don’t meet Nuggets coach Michael Malone’s criteria for a rival, but they are one of the few teams in the NBA that has seemingly had Denver’s number lately.

The Nuggets fell behind 6-0 and never led in a 133-104 loss Saturday afternoon at Target Center, snapping a four-game win streak. Dating back to Game 6 of the second-round playoff series that Minnesota rallied to win last spring, Denver (28-17) has lost four straight to its division foe. Two matchups remain this regular season, both at Ball Arena.

“We never gave ourselves a chance in this one,” Malone said. “Disappointing day, starting with me, all the way down. One of our worst performances of the year, and they took full advantage of it.”

Anthony Edwards passed Karl-Anthony Towns as the Timberwolves’ franchise leader in 3-pointers at 23 years old during a 34-point day. Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic’s streak of five consecutive triple-doubles by the end of the third quarter ended in one of his most uneven games of the season. He finished with 20 points, 11 assists, three rebounds and seven turnovers. He was a team-worst minus-24, while Jamal Murray led the Nuggets instead with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

“Bad turnovers. … Uncharacteristic night,” Malone said of Jokic.

“They’re really good on defense,” Jokic said. “That’s what their character the last two or three years (has been). They’re well-coached and they know what they’re doing.”

The Nuggets struggled to respond to physicality whenever Minnesotas’s starting lineup was on the floor. Russell Westbrook tried admirably to match it as a defender, guarding Julius Randle, but the power forward overpowered him on his way to the rim a few times. Twice, Westbrook tried to take a charge against Randle to no avail. The former New York Knick struggled with his 3-ball, but he still went for 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

“They have big wings. They’ve got a big center. Big power forward,” Aaron Gordon said. “They’ve got good size and good skill, so this is a very physical team, and you’ve gotta match their physicality. Even Ant, he’s a big two-guard. So just to have a chance with that team, you’ve gotta match their physicality first.”

The center, Rudy Gobert, is never an opponent’s center of attention when game-planning for Minnesota’s offense — as demonstrated by an air-balled floater Saturday. But even he was able to capitalize on Denver’s defensive shortcomings. He scored as a roller and dished a no-look pass during a Jokician first quarter: nine points, four assists and four boards as the Wolves took a 40-31 lead into Jokic’s rest. He also finished an eventual double-double with four steals and no turnovers.

Jokic scored 13 of his points in the first quarter then didn’t attempt a field goal in the second. The Nuggets managed to win the six minutes without him, fueled by Murray’s shot-making and some effort plays by Peyton Watson, but the stint ended with a hazardous pass by Gordon that foreshadowed what was next.

Jokic checked back in, and the Nuggets turned it over five times in the last six minutes of the half, leading to nine Minnesota points and an 11-point deficit to ponder in the locker room. The Wolves had 49 points in the paint, an area usually dominated by Denver.

If there was a silver lining, it was the relatively quiet half that Edwards had. But he returned from the break with a vengeance that Denver lacked. As Minnesota opened the floodgates in the third, he buried a series of jump shots by pulling up around pick-and-rolls. Denver’s guards struggled to fight around screens, and Jokic wasn’t up the floor enough to affect Edwards’ quick trigger. At the offensive end, Jokic was uncharacteristically uninvolved in the action.

“We probably could have featured Jok a little bit more in this game,” Gordon said. “He came out torching. If he’s doing that, you’ve gotta just feed him. Feed the beast and let him eat.”

“I think they didn’t make any adjustments,” Jokic said.

The Nuggets are headed to Chicago next for the second contest of a five-game road trip, while Timberwolves fans will celebrate the win with free Chick-fil-A thanks to a pair of free throws that Julian Strawther missed in garbage time. Strawther also missed six of his seven shots from the field and was one of five Nuggets to commit multiple turnovers in the loss. Their 20 total giveaways produced 37 points for the hosts.

“You don’t see that very often,” Malone said. “We had only eight fast-break

points tonight, and there were times when we got stops and we were trying to push and just kept turning the ball over.”