MINNEAPOLIS – Michael Malone walked into the Denver Nuggets locker room at halftime of their temperamental Game 6 Thursday night. In one hand was a statistics sheet. He then looked at his team and asked about what would become one of the historic playoff losses in NBA history. He talked about Minnesota’s passing percentage. The Timberwolves were shooting 42 percent from the field at the time. He talked about Minnesota’s 3-point percentage. The Timberwolves were at 30 percent.
He asked his team if he told them these would be the percentages before the game, would they be acceptable?
The answer was a unanimous yes.
“I agree,” Malone said. “So let me tell you why we get our asses kicked.” You don’t take care of the ball. You don’t bounce the ball. We play without physicality or stamina.
There will be Game 7 in Denver on Sunday in what has become a big Western Conference semifinal as Minnesota beat the Nuggets 115-70 on Thursday night at Target Center. The Timberwolves were able to do it — as Malone told his team at halftime — because they were tougher than the Nuggets. The Wolves dominated, exceeded the limits and defended better than the Nuggets.
If Thursday night was “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!” the Denver Nuggets played the role of Glass Joe. For three straight games, the Nuggets have been the team to face the Wolves. By the end of Game 5 at Ball Arena, the Timberwolves had slumped shoulders and poor body language. At the final buzzer, Minnesota forward Karl-Anthony Towns limped off the floor and entered the locker room. Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards says Denver star Nikola Jokić, who played in a historic fifth game, deserves his flowers.
This series seemed almost over, which makes Thursday night’s Game 6 result both shocking and fascinating. Before the game, the Wolves didn’t seem to have much of a fight left. Even if they had the courage to force a Game 7, no one expected a 45-point gap.
But here we are, heading into a seventh game in a series that features a little bit of everything. Now, after the incredible high of Game 5, when Jokic reached the stratosphere, the Nuggets are going to have to bounce back after playing one of the worst playoff games in NBA history. How historic is it? Thursday marked the Nuggets’ fewest points in a playoff game. No defending champion has ever lost by more points in a playoff game.
“They punked us in Game 2. They punked us tonight in Game 6,” Denver guard Jamal Murray said. “We didn’t come to play tonight and we knew playoff games are the hardest to win.”
The Nuggets’ locker room after Game 6 was a quiet, thoughtful space, filled with players with their share of nicks and bruises. Murray’s calf has long been a problem for the Nuggets. On Thursday, he shot 4 of 18 from the field en route to 10 points. He couldn’t get to the basket, had no lift at the rim and no explosion when dribbling. Jokić’s epic fifth match masked his co-star’s struggles. The reality is that for much of this series, the balance between Murray and Jokić that makes the Nuggets special hasn’t been there.
Aaron Gordon sat in his booth, scrolling through his phone, a thick ice pack draped around his right shoulder. He has been a warrior in this series and has often been Denver’s second best player. Game 6, however, is the first time since Game 2 that the Timberwolves have managed to muzzle its overall impact on both ends of the court.
Jokić sat in his sweat-soaked uniform and froze most of his lower body. He led the Nuggets with 22 points Thursday night, but he was much less efficient than in Game 5. To be honest, this performance is not repeatable from one match to the next. But Jokić didn’t shoot the ball well. He didn’t defend well. The Timberwolves threw unpredictable double teams at him most of the night.
Jokić is someone with exceptional emotional balance. He will never go too high or too low in any situation. When Malone emptied his bench at the start of the fourth quarter, Jokić remained on the sideline for the rest of the game, enduring the historic beating, as he wanted his body to remain free to get back up after the game.
He called Thursday night a “big loss” because it was so lopsided that the Nuggets have no choice but to deal with it and find a solution for Game 7.
“It’s not something we can just eliminate,” Jokić said. “They beat our ass. They were better than us in all segments of the match. We must accept it and take it. And then we have to try to be better next time. When you lose by 45 points, it’s not something that happens every day. So we have to accept it and learn from it.
The overall maturity Denver showed after Game 6 was remarkable. There was no escape after the defeat, even if you cannot escape a defeat like that of Thursday evening. Murray, Jokić, Malone and Reggie Jackson were all responsible, even when faced with tough questions. The collective atmosphere was one of understanding. Friday will likely be a rest day, while Saturday will likely bring film and heavy training.
Denver’s title defense was not easy for several reasons. The competition was much better this time around, even with the Los Angeles Lakers, a team the Nuggets have mastered. They understand that the Wolves are a team designed to match them, which is why the Nuggets are far from shocked that this series is headed to a deciding game.
The Nuggets know it was a big loss, just like Game 2. But Game 3 was a blowout win for the Nuggets, and so was Game 5. This series saw some significant dynamic shifts and there were many occasions where each team appeared to be in control. Each team won two road games. If you looked at this game on paper before the series, a seventh game seemed possible.
The Nuggets know their task is simple, but not easy: They must beat Minnesota once. Knowing it comes down to just one game makes it a lot easier to digest the Game 6 blowout.
“It’s obviously disappointing to lose 50 points in a playoff game,” Malone said. “It’s never a pleasant experience. So we have to go home and start playing like we did when we won three games in a row. I have no doubt we will be ready to do it on Sunday.
That means recognizing some of the reasons why basketball happened on Thursday night. They need to identify and dissect the consistent double teams and extra bodies the Wolves are sending Jokić. At times, the Timberwolves doubled down on their catches. Sometimes they would wait to double until he put the ball on the ground. Sometimes they were accompanied by a guard. On others, they brought in another big man.
In Game 5, Denver used the same type of strategy with Minnesota star Anthony Edwards, and the Nuggets never allowed him to get comfortable. In the sixth game, Jokić took Edwards’ place in this regard.
Yet for much of Thursday night, Minnesota played with the right amount of desperation and the Nuggets didn’t reach that level. That was curious because a win Thursday night likely would have given Denver nearly a week off before the start of the Western Conference finals. This would have given the Nuggets time to rest Murray’s calf, as Murray’s health is the team’s biggest issue. Considering all of that, the Nuggets must be disappointed that the Wolves simply outplayed them on Thursday.
This is what the Nuggets know they must have: They’ve been “punked” for the second time in this series. The Nuggets must regroup for a Game 7 that will extend or end their season.
“I think we have to let this sink in,” Jokić said. “They beat us. They destroyed us and now we have to go back and learn from it.
“We have to give them respect, you know? We actually got out to a 9-2 lead, and then from there it was a one-team show, and we have to learn from that.
(Photo by Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon: AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post via Getty Images)