Denver, CO (SportsNetwork. Luciano Narsingh Jersey .com) - Kenneth Faried racked up 26 points and a career-best 25 rebounds, and the Denver Nuggets needed every last one to hold off the Minnesota Timberwolves by a 106-102 score. Faried, who finished 11-of-15 from the field, was one of three Nuggets to record a double-double as Denver halted a two-game skid. Ty Lawson compiled 16 points with 11 assists, while Timofey Mozgov pulled down 14 boards in addition to netting 11 points. It?s one of the best games Ive seen him play, Lawson said of Faried. I feel like hes just playing his game. Instead of taking shots from the perimeter or midrange jumpers, hes either get(ting) a rebound and putting it back in or hes getting dump-offs. Hes playing like he was toward the end of last year. Wilson Chandler contributed 21 points to help the Nuggets send the Western Conference cellar-dwelling Timberwolves to a seventh consecutive defeat. Thaddeus Young had 23 points for Minnesota and Andrew Wiggins tallied 22 in the loss, with Gorgui Dieng amassing 14 points and 13 rebounds. Minnesota battled hard to turn a 10-point third-quarter deficit into a 91-86 lead with under five minutes to play, but went cold down the stretch and the Nuggets regained the upper hand behind an 8-0 run capped by two Chandler free throws with 3:30 to go. The Timberwolves again fought back to tie the game at 98-98 when Mo Williams fed Young for a short basket with 1:49 remaining. However, Lawson burst into the lane for a layup on the ensuing possession and Denver was able to stay in front with superior foul shooting down the stretch. Minnesota went to the line on three of its next four trips down the court, but Young, Wiggins and Dieng each went just 1-of-2 to keep the Nuggets ahead each time. Arron Afflalo followed Diengs attempts by making both of his free throw tries for a 104-101 Denver edge with 17.1 seconds to play, and Minnesota turned it over on its next set when Chase Budinger stepped out of bounds just before hitting what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer. The Timberwolves managed just one point over the remaining time. Were a young team and sometimes it happens like that at the end of the game, Young said. You just cant find a shot or you cant make a free throw. Denver had opened up a 67-57 lead near the midway mark of the third quarter when the Timberwolves began to charge back, with Wiggins triple with 3:24 left in the period finishing off a 9-3 push that trimmed the margin to four points. The Nuggets lead was just one when Minnesota went on a 10-4 stretch to claim a 91-86 cushion with 5:32 to play. Denver began the contest on a 12-5 surge but trailed 29-26 early in the second quarter, with Youngs 10 points over the opening frame helping Minnesota forge ahead. The Nuggets went back in front when Farieds second-chance dunk gave the hosts a 36-35 edge nearing the midway mark of the second quarter, and Denver was up as many as seven before entering the break owning a 53-47 advantage. Faried was the main factor in Denvers halftime lead, amassing 14 points on 5- of-6 shooting while pulling down an impressive 14 rebounds over the first two quarters. Game Notes Farieds previous career high for rebounds was 21, set against Utah on April 12 of last season ... Minnesota is on its longest losing streak since a seven- game slide from Mar. 30-April 17, 2012, while Fridays loss was the clubs seventh in a row on the road ... The Nuggets finished with a commanding 62-44 advantage on the glass ... Williams tied a season best with 13 assists for the Wolves ... Denver was 25-of-32 overall at the foul line, compared to a 17- of-24 performance for Minnesota. Georginio Wijnaldum Jersey .J. -- The New Jersey Devils are so bad in shootouts, coach Pete DeBoer doesnt mind seeing his team take chances in the five-minute overtime. Bas Dost Jersey . -- Scottie Wilbekin sat on the bench for the final minute, holding a bag of ice against his left knee.TORONTO – Dustin McGowan badly wants to succeed in whats likely his last chance to be a regular big league starting pitcher. He badly wants to erase the doubts about the health of his three times surgically-repaired right shoulder. He wants, once and for all, to eliminate the too-good-to-be-true cloud that hovers over his unlikely story. After yet another all-too-brief outing, four innings plus three batters in Wednesday nights 10-8 loss to the Orioles, McGowan admitted that hes wearing out sooner than hed like. "Maybe a little bit," said McGowan when asked if he feels fatigued. "I do seem at 60 pitches, I kind of seem to be falling backwards a little bit, I guess you could say. But I feel good, my arm feels great, its just sometimes it seems like the ball is not coming out quite right after 60, 65 pitches." Theres some positive in there with that negative. His arm, he insists, is healthy. Hes pleased with how he feels when hes pitching. Hes encouraged with his bounce back in the days after an outing. The problem, it seems, relates to a lack of stamina. "The body just feels like it runs out of steam a little bit," said McGowan. "I shouldnt be feeling that, I should be at the point where I can go 90-100, especially the way my arm feels. It feels great." Pressed further, McGowan didnt deny hes had thoughts about giving up his starters spot and returning to the bullpen. "You think about that, but right now Im planning on being a starter and Ive got to get past that hurdle sometime," he said. His unlikely return to the rotation aside, its important to put McGowans issues in context. While hed openly mused about taking one more shot at being a starter as far back as last September, and general manager Alex Anthopoulos was supportive of McGowans winter efforts to stretch out, there wasnt a realistic expectation hed be leaving the bullpen. McGowan found a home there last season, posting a 2.45 ERA in 25 appearances and showing the stuff of a late-inning, high leverage, shut down reliever. Then this year, toward the end of spring training, the Blue Jays fell just short in the pursuit of free agent right-hander Ervin Santana. There was a spot to fill behind R.A. Dickey, Drew Hutchison, Mark Buehrle and Brandon Morrow. J.A. Happ dealt with back inflammation and pancaked with four awful Grapefruit League starts, resulting in a season-starting stint on the disabled list. Marcus Stroman was inconsistent and started the year with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Aaron Sanchez, whose repertoire has Blue Jays personnel frothing, is working at Double-A New Hampshire and his innings are being monitored early in the season. Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond are best suited for long relief, which left McGowan as the best option. This despite the fact he suffered through a bout with a nasty stomach virus in early March, which docked about a week off his spring training schedule and pushed back efforts to get him multiple-inning appearances. "It could be," said McGowan of whether his shorter than expected spring has caught up with him. "We sped it up a lot, usually you wouldnt increase that much that fast, but we had to and we did it. Ive just got to find a way. Theres a way, Ive just got to get it past that hurdle." Whats still unclear is how long the Blue Jays are willing to give him. Stroman is off to a fine start with the Bisons, posting a 2.18 ERA, 1.355 WHIP and 26 strikeouts against six walks in three starts. His time is coming. So is Sanchezs, eventually. Could it be sooner rather than later? A Relievers Approach The Blue Jays entered Wednesdays action a Top-100 team in relief innings pitched. Daryl Janmaat Jersey. . Relievers have hurled 67 2/3 innings so far this season, getting on average about 10 outs per game. The bullpen is its own world, made up of pitchers who take different approaches to getting ready and staying fresh in case theyre called on to appear in games on consecutive days. Take Brett Cecil, a closer during his sophomore year at the University of Maryland in 2006. By the time he debuted in the big leagues in 2009, he was a starter. Cecil won a career-high 15 games in 2010, then had a mysterious drop in velocity on his fastball, struggled, and has since revived his career as a left-handed relief specialist. "Its just kind of an everyday thing about how I feel," said Cecil of a days preparation. "Whether Im off that day, whether Im going to throw that day; it just all depends on the night before, the two nights before, what Ive done. If I need to stretch, I stretch. If I need to lift, I go lift." Cecil is being careful early in the season after experiencing elbow pain late last year. He made a career-high 60 appearances before being shut down in mid-September. The games he could handle but as a former starter, Cecil was learning how to prepare for relief work. Hes got a better handle on the demands this season. "I wasnt sure how to police myself being a reliever so the days that I felt like throwing a flat ground, I would throw a flat ground," said Cecil. "Did I really need it? No." Cecil believes its easier on the arm to be a starter. You pitch every fifth day, working through a rest, treatment, throwing regimen in-between starts. In relief, you could pitch on back-to-back days and then sit for a number of games. There are periods of consistent work, every other day. Its unpredictable. If a reliever has a two-pitch outing, like Cecil did on Friday night in Cleveland, it counts as a days work so when he throws again on Saturday, as he did against the Indians, hes not available for Sunday. "Thats one of those things that people dont see," said Cecil. "We as bullpen guys dont get a chance to gradually warm up. Its, youve got to get on the mound and throw and youve got to get hot in a very short amount of time. It puts a lot of stress on the arm." Closer Sergio Santos didnt appear in Tuesday nights win over the Orioles but with the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth, he was warming up to pitch the ninth. Its not an appearance in Santos stats line but it is a day of work. "I had two days off plus an off day so it was technically three days off," said Santos. "It was fine for me to get off the mound and I threw maybe eight to 10 pitches. Just something to where I was sharp enough that if the inning were to end, Id be able to go out and do my job and if it didnt, then it was just a day of a little bit more than a flat ground." Santos is less concerned about a day like Tuesday in April but come July and August, the dog days of summer, relievers become more concerned with "saving their bullets." That is, throw when needed and to stay ready; just dont throw any more than whats required. Bullpen coach Bob Stanley charts pitches thrown and keeps track of each relievers throwing schedule. Guys have different warmup routines. Santos likes eight to 12 pitches off the mound before entering a game. Cecil likes 15 to 20, throwing the final five at maximum capacity. If hes rushed, hell factor in the eight pitches he gets on the game mound. "Some guys warm up with an intensity that matches almost the game and can be harder," said Santos. "Some guys take it a little lighter when theyre warming up." 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