DENVER -- The Denver Nuggets were staring at another home loss and another dagger into a season that was already slipping away.

A barrage of 3-pointers and some clutch play in overtime helped them change the ending.

Danilo Gallinari scored nine of his game-high 23 points in overtime and the Nuggets rallied to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-108 on Friday night.

Guard Jameer Nelson had 20 points and seven assists and forward Kenneth Faried added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Denver, which ended a five-game home losing streak.

"We had to get a win tonight," forward Will Barton said. "Guys just dug down deep."

Denver trailed most of the game and had to play the second half without starting point guard Emmanuel Mudiay. The 19-year-old rookie tweaked his ankle in practice this week and aggravated it in the second quarter.

That left the Nuggets short-handed and in need of someone to step up. Nelson ran the team and Gallinari took care of the rest with his play in overtime.

"Gallinari made some real big plays down the stretch, which we needed," Denver coach Michael Malone said. "It was a great way to end that five-game losing streak at home."

After Gallinari's 3-pointer gave Denver a 107-104 lead late in overtime, center Karl Anthony Towns hit a hook in the lane to cut it to one. The teams traded misses before Gallinari hit a turnaround with 6.8 seconds left to make it 109-106.

Towns missed a 3-pointer and Gallinari made two free throws to seal it.

"Since the start of the season, we've not been very good in the clutch and I thought we did a much better job," Gallinari said.

Forward Andrew Wiggins and guard Kevin Martin led Minnesota with 22 points each and Towns had 14 points and nine rebounds.

The Timberwolves were cruising after two free throws by Towns made it 65-47, but Denver found its shooting touch. Nelson drained three 3-pointers and Gallinari had one during a 12-2 run that got the Nuggets within eight.

"He saw a weakness in our defense and he exploited it," Martin said of Nelson. "He hit some tough shots and without him tonight they wouldn't have won."

Denver kept chipping away until guard Gary Harris' floater in the lane with 2:04 left gave the Nuggets their first lead since the first quarter.

Minnesota led by one before Nelson hit two free throws to give Denver a 100-99 lead. Wiggins split two with 23 seconds left and the Nuggets called their last timeout to set up a play, but Nelson missed a 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer.

Minnesota F Kevin Garnett had five rebounds and passed Karl Malone for most defensive rebounds in NBA history with 11,409. Garnett received a warm ovation from the crowd.

That was about all the fans had to cheer for in a first half dominated by the Timberwolves. The Nuggets shot 30.8 percent from the field and trailed 56-41 at halftime.

"I think we had eight missed layups by halftime," Malone said. "We had a bunch of open shots that we weren't able to knock down. My challenge to the guys was even when you are missing shots and not converting, you still have to defend. We didn't do a great job of that often enough in the first half."

The halftime margin would have been larger, but the Nuggets were 16 of 20 from the foul line.

"We could have been up 20 or 25 by halftime," Timberwolves coach Sam Mitchell said. "We couldn't play defense without fouling. We just fouled."

NOTES: Nuggets G Gary Harris returned after missing six games with a concussion. Coach Michael Malone said it felt like "We're getting Michael Jordan back. Gary has gotten us off to a great start, he's been playing very well, shooting the ball, defending. Just having him back in the lineup is a welcome sight." ... Minnesota coach Sam Mitchell said he is happy with what he's seen from G Tyus Jones while playing in the D-League. "He went down with the right attitude, go down and get better, get some playing time," Mitchell said. ... Nuggets F Darrell Arthur was out with a sore right knee. He left Tuesday's loss to Orlando because of the injury. ... Denver C Joffrey Lauvergne (illness) was back in the starting lineup.