DENVER -- Danilo Gallinari gave the Denver Nuggets a lead, and Wilson Chandler preserved it in the final seconds.

Gallinari hit a turnaround bank shot in the lane with 27 seconds left, Chandler followed with a block on Andrew Wiggins at the other end, and the Nuggets escaped with a 105-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

Gallinari finished with 18 points and Nikola Jokic had 16 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the Nuggets (14-18). Chandler added 17 points and seven rebounds to go with his block on Wiggins with eight seconds left.

"I think I got lucky," Chandler said. "He should have just dunked it, but I'm glad he didn't."

The Nuggets are 4-1 at home and 5-2 overall since getting everyone healthy and changing the rotation.

They had to survive a late Minnesota rally led by Karl-Anthony Towns, who notched his first career triple-double. Towns had 15 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. He scored 11 in the fourth quarter when the Timberwolves rallied from 101-91 down to tie it at 103.

"We played like our lives were on the line," said Towns, who scored seven points in the last 2:24. "We played with such an energy, intensity and sense of determination. We played with a lot of determination; that's why the lead started to dwindle real quick."

Wiggins had 25 points, Gorgui Dieng tied a season high with 20 points, and Ricky Rubio contributed 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Timberwolves (10-22).

Minnesota nearly pulled off the comeback when Wiggins split a pair of free throws to tie it at 103 with 58 seconds left. Gary Harris rebounded Jokic's miss, and the ball went to Gallinari up top. He drove toward the basket and hit a high arcing shot over Wiggins to give Denver the lead.

"He gave me the chance to drive, but he's a very good athlete, so he closed out the drive," Gallinari said. "I spin, I saw him jumping very high so I had to throw the ball a little higher than usual."

Wiggins, who had just 10 points after the first quarter, drove the baseline, but Chandler met him and swatted the ball toward the sideline. Harris grabbed it as he was jumping out of bounds and then flung it downcourt to burn some clock.

"We had a situation like that in the Atlanta game and we tried to call a timeout. You can't call a timeout in the air anymore," said Harris, who finished with 17 points. "I didn't want them get a possession right down there so just throw it full-court and waste some time."

Zach LaVine tracked it down, but his 26-foot 3-point attempt at the buzzer was off.

"I was like, 'Please don't make it,'" Harris said.

The miss thwarted the Wolves' comeback and kept the Nuggets rolling at home.

"We fought back in the fourth, but we couldn't close it out," Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau said.

The Nuggets led by 10 early in the fourth, but Minnesota climbed back into it with six straight points. LaVine, who had just nine through the first three quarters, scored all six and forced Denver to call a timeout while leading 87-83.

The Nuggets responded with their own 6-0 run capped by Jokic feeding Chandler for a dunk while Jokic was getting bumped by Towns.

The Timberwolves led by as many as 13 in the first half. Wiggins had 20 points on to lead the way, but Denver made a run in the second quarter. Minnesota went 4:51 without a point to aid the Nuggets' 13-0 run to tie it.

NOTES: Nuggets F Wilson Chandler is seeing his scoring average slip since moving into the starting lineup seven games ago. Chandler averaged 18.8 points in the six games prior to starting and is putting up 13.3 points per game since. ... Timberwolves coach Tim Thibodeau was on the Team USA staff that won gold at the Rio Olympics and got to see Nuggets C Nikola Jokic twice with the Serbian national team. "He played very well there," Thibodeau said. "You can tell he's gotten really comfortable. He's older than what his experience says." ... NBA stars have been critical of the league's Last Two Minutes Report evaluating referees' calls, and Denver coach Michael Malone understands why after his team lost a game on a missed call last month. "You love the transparency, but what good does it do? We admit that it should have been your ball so we win the game, right? No," he said.