Rudy Gobert was out.
And Minnesota’s defense was suffocating.
Anthony Edwards had four first quarter points.
And the Timberwolves ended it with an eight-point lead.
The Nuggets are the defending champs led by the presumptive MVP.
And faced with playoff-level physicality, they crumbled.
Minnesota 106, Denver 80.
And, really–it wasn’t that close.
This wasn’t a game. It was a message. This was George Foreman-Joe Frazier. Mike Tyson-Trevor Berbick. Rocky Balboa-Clubber Lang. A Denver team has not taken this kind of bludgeoning since the Broncos spotted the Dolphins 70 points last fall.
Minnesota didn’t just come to win. The Timberwolves came to deliver a beating.
“We got beat up in our building,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone. “We got embarrassed in front of our fans.”
Said Nikola Jokić, “After that first quarter there [was] basically only one team on the floor.”
Jokić was bad. The two-time MVP–who, barring a surprise, will take home a third trophy in the coming days–got bullied. He was 5-of-13 from the floor. He missed his only three. He committed four turnovers, all in the first half, when Denver scored a meager 35 points. Gobert’s absence–he missed Game 2 due to the birth of his first child–opened the door for a breakout performance. Instead, Jokić fell flat.
Jamal Murray was worse. He was 3-of-18 from the floor. He was 0-for-4 from three. For 36 grueling minutes Minnesota hounded him with big, long bodies. Edwards. Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Jaden McDaniels. They applied full-court pressure. They bodied him when he attacked the rim. He looked exasperated when Alexander-Walker and McDaniels swarmed him during one possession in the first half. He looked defeated when he repeatedly bounced into the chest of Alexander-Walker when he tried to go off the dribble.
“We’ve had some really really good defensive efforts this year,” said Timberwolves coach Chris Finch. “But that has to be right up there with the best of them.”
Instead of focusing on Minnesota, Murray zeroed in on the officials. He clapped his hands. He yelled. He threw his arms up in frustration. He appeared to direct the money sign toward a referee in the second quarter. That could cost him some cash. TNT cameras caught Murray firing a heat pack onto the floor during live action. That could cost him a game.
“It’s inexcusable and dangerous,” said Finch. “Certainly can’t allow that to happen.”
Murray left Ball Arena without speaking to reporters.
Against the Lakers, the Nuggets were able to overcome mistakes. Against Minnesota, they pay for them. When L.A. jumped out to early leads, Denver was able to claw its way back. When Minnesota gets them in an early hole, the Wolves bury them. Minnesota had two starters (Edwards and Karl-Anthony-Towns) score in double figures. But they got eight assists from Kyle Anderson and 14 points apiece from Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid off the bench. McDaniels scored five points but was a team-high +26. Through three quarters, before Malone pulled his starters, Denver’s second unit scoring was just 10 points from Justin Holiday.
“They punked us,” said Reggie Jackson. “They literally manhandled us.”
The Timberwolves are not messing around. The 56 games they won in the regular season wasn’t misleading. The NBA’s No. 1 defense is legit. Minnesota could have been satisfied with taking one in Denver. The Wolves could have hopped on a plane with home court advantage. Instead, they outmuscled the more playoff tested team and will head to the Target Center on Friday with a 2–0 series lead. In the closing minutes Timberwolves fans who made their way to Denver showered Edwards with chants of M-V-P.
“It’s not about winning the first game,” said Edwards. “You want to win every game. You don’t want to split. You want to win two here, try to have home court advantage, and then win two at home.”
It’s certainly possible. Murray, who battled through a calf injury last round, is hobbled. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is, too. Jackson needed to be helped into the locker room in the second half after appearing to injure his left ankle. The Wolves can send waves of bodies at the Nuggets. Denver is just hoping to have enough healthy ones.
The Nuggets said all the right things after the game on Monday. “Hopefully we’re gonna go there and put up a fight and bring the series back,” said Jokić. Added Malone, “You can feel sorry for yourself, or you can do whatever you can to try to be better come Game 3.” But Minnesota is the better defensive team. In this series, so far, it has had the best player. The Target Center, which has not hosted a second round series in two decades, will be rocking. Denver didn’t face adversity like this during its 2023 championship run. The Nuggets will have to overcome it if they want to win another.
