Protective champions are on the ropes.
The Minnesota Timberwolves disappointed the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 victory in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series on Monday at Ball Arena. Minnesota won the first two games on the road and now has a 2-0 lead with a chance. to win the series in the next two house games.
And he won Game 2 without his defensive anchor since Rudy Gobert was absent for non-public reasons at the birth of his first child.
Anthony Edwards (27 problems and seven assists on 11-of-17 shooting) and Karl-Anthony Towns (27 problems and 12 rebounds on 10-of-15 shooting) helped make up for their absence, while Minnesota’s defense set the tone from the start.
Nikola Jokić had 16 points, 16 rebounds and 8 assists, but Jamal Murray shot 3-of-18 from the box, while the Nuggets in general were criticized for their performance:
It’s amazing how much the Timberwolves are worth as much as the Nuggets right now. That’s crazy.
The Timberwolves don’t think the Nuggets belong on the same turf as them. And I can’t believe it was the last time a team addressed a protective champion like this in their building.
They deserve to be ashamed. It’s that simple. They have been absolutely separated.
We’d never noticed the Nuggets get rid of others like that. Completely shocked. This Timberwolves defense crushed them.
Denver Live Shot pic. twitter. com/eYA9ZB3jKc
Watch Nikola Jokic play defense in the playoffs. . . pic. twitter. com/s7yZm2EwLY
Murray and Jokic when D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura are not in defense pic. twitter. com/sZGCjR3Yol
It had been more than two years since something so deadly had happened.
Naz Reid tells Jokic that the next five years belong to him
I didn’t think it was imaginable that a star player would bore me more than Hali tonight with his performance, but I congratulate Murray for pulling it off lol.
This match needed “the flaming hair” of Jokic, who felt that the team did not have it and had to pass out and open everything.
The Nuggets’ framing language now reminds me of the 2007 Heat team that the Bulls swept in the first round. Protective champions realize that winning one will require even more effort than the first, and they settle for this one.
The nuggets that mentally crumble is anything I had on my bingo card.
pic. twitter. com/E6YdUNSuaX
Murray was horrible, terrible, not at all intelligent. He also gave what he’s got, he’s just not smart either in the calf or in the game. It adapts more, that’s for sure, but the effort is there. (The hot compress was embarrassing. ) It’s not the same for all Nuggets. .
Regardless of what happens the rest of the game, if Denver goes to the press and complains about the physicality, that issue is over. That doesn’t change. They have to make do with it and succeed at this level. https://t. co/8Ja5ofwNTS
It turns out to be a product of pride. They haven’t been hungry all year. I have become dependent on performance. https://t. co/xVX0n7psAb
All the pressure on Denver, as the Timberwolves had already stolen home merit with their win in Game 1. The fact that the visitors were betting without Gobert only gave the impression of a must-win for a Nuggets team facing a playoff deficit. First time since 2022.
And Denver broke that pressure.
Minnesota stunned the crowd by taking a 26-point lead into the parttime, with Towns and Edwards set to lead the way. But it wasn’t just the stars, as the Timberwolves team’s defense stifled everyone Aaron Gordon in the first half and converted Jokić. on a billing device sometimes.
Frustration was the dominant theme in Denver, to the point that Murray even threw a hot compress onto the court from the bench as the game continued:
Jamal Murray threw a hot compress onto the field ? pic. twitter. com/Iho8YW8Q0H
Jamal Murray is now the second most prominent Canadian in the last 24 hours to publicly throw in the towel after intense pressure.
For a long time, the second half of a Nuggets playoff game had largely been a formality, as they were the furthest back. But that was the truth on Monday, which is a testament to Minnesota’s functionality and the unusually terrible look of Jokić and company.
Even as the home team gained some momentum in the fourth quarter by cutting the deficit to 32-22, the Timberwolves responded with 3-pointers from Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Towns and Edwards.
The latter even fueled comparisons to Michael Jordan by shrugging his shoulders:
ANTHONY EDWARDS ? pic. twitter. com/shHT8uY6oo
The outcome was never in doubt, and the Timberwolves will now look to outmaneuver the Nuggets when the series moves to Minnesota for Game 3 on Friday.