MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Repeating a championship in the NBA is as challenging as ever given the level of talent in the league these days, with the Golden State Warriors being the only ones to do so in the last decade.
Look at the five teams that won the Larry O’Brien Trophy before the Denver Nuggets last season: the Warriors in 2022, the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and the Warriors in 2019. None of them moved forward. Second round next year.
Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets are one win away from stopping that streak and are playing like they are ready to overcome the lackluster back-to-back trend.
With a tireless Jokic scoring 40 points and 13 assists, the Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves again in Denver on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series and can eliminate them in Game 6 in Minneapolis on Thursday night.
“They are playing better than us at the moment. They are defeating us. They’re playing harder than us. They’re getting all the loose balls. Everything is going their way,” Wolves guard Anthony Edwards said. “They’ve got momentum, and we’ve got to figure out a way to get it back on track.”
Strangely, the Nuggets should thank Minnesota for beating them so badly on their home court in Game 2. Domination on both ends of the court was just the jolt Denver needed.
“We were collectively not playing like the defending NBA champions. I guess we weren’t playing with our usual swagger. We were not playing with confidence. We were not playing with any aggression. I think you have to give Minnesota a lot of credit, because they had a lot to do with it,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I thought Game 2 was a great reminder to us that we need to get back to where we need to be offensively and defensively.”
The Warriors were the only repeat winners in the last 10 years in 2017 and 2018. They made the NBA Finals in 2019 and lost to the Raptors, who were eliminated in the second round the following season. The Lakers were eliminated in the first round in 2021. The Bucks were defeated in the second round in 2022, as were the Warriors in 2023.
Not only did the Nuggets highlight the shocking impact of three-time MVP Jokic, but they also found some cracks in the NBA’s leading defense with sharp outside shooting by their secondary in handing the Wolves their first three-game losing streak of the season. Have been exposed. Scorer. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the latest in Game 5, hitting four of his five 3-point attempts.
Then there’s the defense that Denver presented against All-Star Edwards after his 44-point game on Sunday. Edwards went 5 of 15 from the floor for 18 points with four turnovers on Tuesday.
“We still got a chance. There is no shortage. Everyone is still here. I think everybody’s still engaged,” said Minnesota center Naz Reed, the Sixth Man of the Year award winner. “I think everyone wants to make that adjustment or that change to get back on top and be themselves.”
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Timberwolves at Nuggets
Denver leads 3–2. Game 6, Thursday, 8:30 PM EDT, ESPN
– Need to know: Jokic joked after Game 1 that he’d need a “duplicate clone of himself” to help the Nuggets solve the paint defense that’s costing the Wolves the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. The winner was sending after Rudy Gobert. Jokic had his way with Gobert and anyone who tried to pitch with an arm up or a body block in Game 5, going 15 of 22 from the floor.
– Keep an eye on: Michael Porter Jr., the third-leading scorer for the Nuggets during the regular season, has been a non-factor in this series, ceding key fourth-quarter minutes to backup Christian Braun. Porter scored just 2 for 10 on Tuesday.
– Injury scene: Wolves point guard Mike Conley missed Game 5 because of a sore Achilles tendon, which he strained on the final possession of the Game 4 loss when he missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds. Edwards clearly missed his backcourt partner, as the Wolves found little cohesion on offense in Game 5. Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray himself was quiet in Game 5, likely more a function of Jokic’s dominance than his strained calf, which appears to be less of a hindrance as the series progresses.
– The pressure is on: Edwards. After being bounced in five games in the first round last season, the Wolves face elimination by the Nuggets for the second consecutive year. “Wolves in four!” The chant that preceded Game 3 at Target Center seems like a distant memory with a 2-0 lead. If the Wolves can stop their skid on Thursday night, they’ll have a chance for a puncher in Game 7 in Denver, but Edwards will have to solve the double teams that are sure to come his way again in Game 6.
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