Michael Malone claimed the Nuggets lost due to fatigue caused by finishing with the higher seed.
Perhaps no harder accomplishment in the NBA exists than winning a championship, other than winning it twice. The Denver Nuggets found that out on Sunday night as their hopes to repeat as champions came to an end.
The Minnesota Timberwolves went into Denver for Game 7 and mounted a historic comeback to defeat the Nuggets by a score of 98-90. Prior to that game, no other team had ever surmounted a deficit of more than 11 points in any Game 7. The T’Wolves had a 20 point deficit at one point in the game and successfully overcame it.
The comeback came thanks to Anthony Edwards. He had just four points, no rebounds, and three assists after the first half, but led the charge in the second half. He would finish with 16 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists, and combined with the offense of Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaden McDaniels, the momentum swung in Minnesota’s favor as they roared past the Nuggets, ending their season.
Malone Blames Fatigue
Nuggets coach Michael Malone said the team was tired from winning the two seed
Rather than acknowledge that the Timberwolves were the better team in the game, Nuggets coach Michael Malone chalked up the loss to fatigue. He reasoned that the Nuggets played their starters more down the stretch, which allowed them to secure a higher seed than the T’Wolves, but that cost them energy.
“This is just a momentary delay. Failure is not fatal, the better team won. Not taking anything from Minnesota. We played until June last year. We had to play main guys through Game 82 to secure [a higher] seed. I think emotionally and physically, guys are gassed.” –Michael Malone
The Nuggets ended up finishing the season tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the best record in the Western Conference, at 57-25. However, the Thunder won the season series, so the one seed went to them while the Nuggets received the second seed.
Unfamiliar Territory
This will be only the second Conference Finals in Timberwolves history
The Timberwolves finished one game below then at 56-26 to secure the third seed. They will now have home court advantage as they take on the fifth seed Dallas Mavericks, who finished with a record of 50-32.
Game 7 on Sunday night was Minnesota’s first in twenty years, when they defeated the Sacramento Kings in 2004. That year saw them reach their first (and to date only) Conference Finals, in which they lost. But now, they will have a chance to make it to their first NBA Finals in franchise history.
The Nuggets are now the fifth consecutive defending champion to lose in the following year’s playoffs, failing to repeat as champions. The last team to repeat as champions was the dynastic Golden State Warriors, who did it in 2017 and 2018.
The Nuggets won the one seed last year, when they won it all, so Malone’s reasoning that they lost this year because they had the higher seed fails to make much sense. Regardless, his team will be heading home to watch their newly-developed rival take on the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.