Nuggets look the part of a No. 1 seed in blowout win over the T-Wolves
Apr 17, 2023, 6:27 AM
The Nuggets white “Bring It In” t-shirts were laid out on every seat in Ball Arena, including the 20 or so front row seats in the owner’s box. There were blinking wristbands for every fan. Sunday night’s game one 8:51 p.m. starting time may have been more conducive for blankets and the “Calm” app. But Denver vs. Minneapolis was anything but a snoozer, as the Nuggets took a 1-0 series lead beating the Wolves 109-80.
“It was a great defensive effort,” said coach Michael Malone after the game. “But, we’re not gonna get too high after a win and we aren’t gonna get too low after a loss. But, I just gave our defensive player of the game award to the whole team. It’s a good starting point, but we have much more to do.”
The concern all week was how the Nuggets would respond after extended time off. Malone praised the effort given this last week. The fear was he may have been conjuring the spirit of ex-Broncos coach Vance Joseph who often praised great practices that inevitably ended in horrific games.
There was no reason for concern as the Nuggets put the defensive clamps down early.
“It was a stellar defensive performance from our group,” Malone said.
Hampered early by poor three-point shooting, the Nuggets focused on their defense and pounding the paint. The result was glorious, limiting the Wolves to 44 first half points and 36 second half points. The 80 total was a league low for any team in the first game of these playoffs.
The slow start did make sense. Both Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. admitted to nerves. It had been over 900 days since Murray played in the postseason.
“I was very excited,” admitted Murray. “I had a bunch of adrenaline running. I haven’t felt that kind of excitement in a minute, probably since the beginning of the season. I got tired quick. I got the jitters out of the way. The team told me to keep shooting. I was diving on the floor just trying to keep myself in the game.”
Murray has certainly had better shooting nights than his 9-of-24 for 24 points, but the flow of the game allowed him to find his rightful place.
Eventually, the Nuggets would find their rhythm from the outside led by clutch threes from Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown.
Initially, absent from the outside was MPJ, who only hit one three in the first half. He would bury three three-pointers after halftime. But, there has been a significant developing characteristic for this burgeoning superstar. When he chooses, he becomes a dominant force inside.
“No matter how it goes in the hoop, getting an easy bucket boost the rhythm of the game,” said Porter Jr. “When you see an easy one go in, it definitely helps.”
MPJ’s determination to be strong around the rim is noticeable. If his outside shot isn’t falling, he has been quick to take it to the house. He did so over and over including a roof blowing one-hand jam when he was fed by Murray along the baseline. His presence was felt. He made the Wolves repeatedly suffer. He was him.
The Wolves on the other hand were a complete disaster.
Karl-Anthony Towns was miserable on the night, going just 5-of-15 for a paltry 11 points. Anthony Edwards wasn’t much better with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Other than a quality block on Jokic, Rudy Gobert was a pathetic -28 for the night.
The Wolves howl was without a larynx.
The Nuggets poured it on as it was obvious who was the more-rested team. They were quick to run, run, run. The play-in week took its toll on a Minny team that had issues holding leads all year.
It got so bad that a heckler in the crowd could be heard yelling at Gobert.
“Hey Rudy, why don’t you punch your friend again. You’re a (rhymes with pity) friend!”
The astute, while also drunk, Nuggets fan was referring to the Wolves-Pelicans game where Gobert punched teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout. He was consequently suspended for the Wolves first play-in game against the Lakers.
Perhaps, Gobert had the right idea.
Playing another final minute of the quarter DeAndre Jordan came alive. Murray threw a perfect alley-oop to Jordan. The crowd exploded.
On the other end, ex-Nugget Austin Rivers stepped out of bounds. The play was whistled dead and as Christian Braun tried to get the ball back from Kyle Anderson, the Wolves pest threw an elbow.
The crowd’s emotions went haywire.
As Braun and Anderson got tangled up, players on both sides came together in anger near center court. Murray tried to settle things down with Rivers and the rest of the Wolves.
The crowd lost their collective minds, as they suddenly thought they may have been invited to an Avs playoff game.
Murray was fired up. He was letting loose. Not playing in a playoff game in more than 900 days unleashed a volcano of emotion. The crowd deliriously surfed this moment along with Murray. It was the kettle exploding in a thunderous whistle of emotion.
After review, it was called a flagrant 1 on Anderson. Everything was going Denver’s way. On the missed free throw, Braun scooped up the rebound and hit Murray for a wide-open three, stretching the lead to 29. Minnesota would score a paltry 14 points in the third.
It was impossible not to see the absolute joy in Murray’s game.
Malone wasn’t satisfied to take it easy. Up 31, he was still urging his team to push the ball. In the perfect example of you’d have to see it to believe it, the combination of Green and Jordan was the basketball version of “The Golden Girls.” After barely playing the entire year, all of a sudden DJ became a key contributor.
“DJ went out there and did a good job,” said Malone of why he played his little used big man. “In the second half, we had foul trouble with Nikola and AG (Aaron Gordon). DJ go out there and play against Gobert. I think that’s a really good matchup for us. And Jeff Green, you can’t always judge it by the stat sheet. ‘Oh, Jeff was 0-for-4.’ I thought Jeff played really well tonight. He fought. He competed. I thought the ‘old heads’ did a really good job for us.”
The only significant head scratcher of the evening was the reinsertion of Jokic. With a 30-point lead with 7:45 to go in the fourth, the two-time defending MVP who, rightfully so, may have thought he was done for the night, came back in.
It wasn’t pretty.
He immediately clotheslined Anthony Edwards, drawing a flagrant foul. Shortly after that, Jokic would pick up his sixth, eliminating him from the game because of fouls for the first time all year. Why he was even back in the game was a mystery. He was asked about it on the TNT postgame show and said he was the wrong person to ask.
Malone has wanted to make statements all year. It wouldn’t have been the first time he out his starters back in a blowout. He believes that there are important lessons to be learned for a variety of reason at a seemingly random amount of times. When he has these zen moments, his players often seem confused.
If there’s a method to the madness, it’s not obvious what it is. But, there’s no arguing about the results on Sunday night.
The demolition of the Wolves isn’t predicative of blowouts every night, but what happened shouldn’t be surprising when an No. 8 seed travels to a No. 1 seed.
Denver is a better team.
Whatever they needed to do last week to prepare obviously worked. They get another two days off before game two on Wednesday.
It would be surprising if the end result was any different.
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