DENVER – The Denver Nuggets appeared as close to breaking the trend of NBA parity as any current champion, poised to do it again and take full advantage along the way.
Now they only have doubts. The doubts are laid bare and slapped right in the face with long arms, steely eyes, and a focus that should feel familiar.
They seem frustrated, as if the summer holidays are coming a month earlier than originally planned. After two games in the Western Conference semifinals, they seem to have no answers.
It's not just that the Minnesota Timberwolves dismantled them with a 106-80 victory at Ball Arena on Monday night in the second game of their best-of-seven series. It was as it happened, the circumstances under which the Timberwolves took a surprising 2-0 lead before heading home for a pair of games at Target Center this weekend.
Minnesota head coach Chris Finch is on crutches after knee surgery and sits in the second row. Starting player and defensive back Rudy Gobert was traveling to attend to the birth of his child.
The stage was set for a masterful response from the champions, especially probably the most valuable player, Nikola Jokić. The Timberwolves waited for the Nuggets to hit them hard.
And they're still waiting.
The Nuggets have a problem with Anthony Edwards, who scored 27 points in Monday's second game in Denver. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Jokić rarely had a bad game last spring, let alone two in a row. That's where he is right now, though, after his 16-point, 16-rebound, 8-assist performance, which looks good on paper but nowhere else.
The stats say he had four turnovers, but it seemed like many more as he withered under the haze of Timberwolves defenses, a relentless parade of eager wingers all too ready to take on the champions.
“We didn’t help ourselves,” said Jokić. “We didn’t share the ball. They're long, they're physical. Maybe we're trying too hard to attract people. Maybe you should trust the passport a little more. They make you play like that.”
The Timberwolves are bringing the fight, and the Nuggets still have to fight back, they still have to commit to make it difficult for the challengers. They shot 32 percent in the first half, trailed 61-35 and were met with a few boos from their home fans.
Halftime entertainment included a performance by the Nuggets dancers to Destiny Child's “Survivor,” which seemed appropriate considering that's exactly what they need to do to bring this series home for a Game 5.
“They kicked our ass, so it got away from us,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Our guys’ body language wasn’t what it should be, in my opinion. But we just got beaten up in our building. We embarrassed ourselves in front of our fans.”
Maybe it was frustration. Or confusion. Or even disinterest.
But with Jamal Murray (3-of-18, eight points) struggling with his body, resulting in him expressing his frustration on the court like he was throwing a heat pack on the floor during the game, the Nuggets needed Jokić to assess the game over it and tie the series.
Instead, he was outclassed by Karl-Anthony Towns, who filled in admirably for Gobert. Towns stayed out of foul trouble and was more efficient than he had been in any of his 22 career playoff games. He had 27 points and 12 rebounds in 35 minutes, with his plus-21 rating second only to Jaden McDaniels' plus-26.
Naz Reid scored 14 goals off the bench, as did Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Each hit four triples, a sharp contrast to the Nuggets, who can't shoot straight (34.9% overall, 30% from 3).
The Timberwolves are physical with Jokić, pushing him off his spot and not leaving him alone, and on top of that, the fact that the league is allowing more contact means Jokić isn't rewarded with action at the line.
“You feel embarrassed, you feel exposed,” Malone said. “So what are you going to do about it? That's my biggest thing. What are you going to do about it? Look in the mirror, have this [fortitude], have the courage to look in the mirror and say, “I didn’t do my job tonight.” And be better in the next game. That’s all I can ask her.”
Michael Porter Jr.'s hot shooting (4-of-12 from the floor) didn't carry over after his performance against the Lakers, and it's worth noting that the Nuggets haven't played a complete game all postseason – that was the case just now good enough to get past the Lakers thanks to game-winners from Murray.
And this is the first 50-win team the Nuggets have played in the last two straight playoff runs. This is adversity they didn't face at all during last year's dominant postseason sprint.
They had health and hunger on their side, now they have neither. They realize that defending a championship is much more difficult than chasing it. The Larry O'Brien trophy sits boxed in the hallway leading into their locker room. They walk past it every time they speak.
But something is wrong here, as Minnesota proved with a 32-point lead in the third quarter. Malone, sensing his team was off to another slow start, tackled official Marc Davis in the first quarter after Murray and Towns failed to make a decision when Towns rolled over Murray for a basket. As heated as the moment was, Malone didn't even draw a technical foul.
“There's a player that goes out there and does that and tries to do what you ask him to do,” Malone said. “And he won’t be rewarded. This is very frustrating. I owe it to Jamal Murray to express my concern and my disagreement.”
The intensity shows in the opponents. With every quarter that goes by, with every complaint they see as the Nuggets lobby the officials, the Timberwolves become more confident that not only are they the better team, but that they will win this series in short order.
Did they grow up so quickly? They are undefeated in these playoffs, with rare blips. They controlled the playing conditions and the goals conceded by the opponents.
“I always tell the team when we huddle together and [Finch] says we have to be ready to take their hit, I say we will hit too,” said Anthony Edwards, who had 27 points and 7 assists. “They are not the only ones who strike in battle. I don’t care if we take a 3-0 lead, then we’ll beat.”
Denver, stumped and shaky after two massive hay harvests at home, is entering dubious territory. Since 2000, a defending champion has lost 0-2 in a playoff series four times (2007, Heat; 2011, Lakers; 2012, Mavericks; 2020, Raptors). Each time the champion went home.
Only once have the champions managed a series of these, and that was the Raptors without Kawhi Leonard in the Orlando bubble, so the circumstances were not normal. But Jokić is not normal either, because as the third MVP he joins the pantheon of the greats and sooner or later he will make his mark on this series.
It's just that Edwards has now had another outstanding game, as have the aforementioned Towns. Gobert was outstanding in the opener and will return to an emotionally charged Target Center in Minneapolis on Friday night.
A Denver comeback isn't impossible, but it's certainly unlikely. More will be asked of the Nuggets and Jokić in the coming days.
“I’m going to fight for my guys, and I think I have to fight even harder for them,” Malone said.
The problem is that they also have to fight for themselves.
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