‘The season is over’ – Nuggets reeling after Game 7 collapse

DENVER — With about 30 seconds remaining, reality began to set in and Nikola Jokic began praising the Minnesota Timberwolves players.

In the span of 22 minutes, the Denver Nuggets’ quest to repeat as champions disintegrated in stunning fashion. The Nuggets blew a 20-point third-quarter lead at home to fall 98-90 in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The way they lost – squandering a 58-38 lead from the 10:50 mark in the third quarter – left the defending champions shell-shocked and incredibly frustrated. It was the largest lead lost in a Game 7 in the last 25 years.

“The season is over,” a frustrated Michael Malone said during his press conference as Wolves players could be heard roaring with joy in their neighboring locker room through the wall.

The suddenness of the end of the Nuggets’ rehearsal hadn’t yet set in.

“That’s what’s hard,” Malone said when asked what went wrong. “Damn, I’m 20 years older. The season’s over. It’s hard.”

After losing the first two games of the series at home, Denver won the next three games and seemed to return to their championship. But the Nuggets missed two opportunities to advance to their third Western Conference Finals in five playoff series – both in shocking fashion. They were wiped out in Game 6 at Minnesota by 45 points.

And then came the second half of Sunday. Up by 20 after Jamal Murray buried a 3, the Nuggets watched as the Timberwolves went on a 54-24 run. By the end of that run, Minnesota led 92-82 with 3:07 left, deflating a raucous Ball Arena.

Jokic, a three-time MVP, finished with 34 points, 19 rebounds and 7 assists, but missed 8 of 10 from behind the arc. Murray scored 24 of his 35 points in the first half, but shot just 4 of 12 from 3-point range.

The Nuggets’ two big stars didn’t get much help. Michael Porter Jr. missed 9 of 12 shots and scored 7 points, while Aaron Gordon, who had been terrific this series in the Nuggets’ three straight wins, finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

While Nuggets like Murray and Christian Braun said they thought Denver should have won and advanced, Jokic said the Wolves were built to beat them.

Tim Connelly built the Nuggets into a championship contender as the franchise’s longtime president of basketball operations. Minnesota hired Connelly in 2022, and he traded for players such as Rudy Gobert to put together a group that seemed perfect for stopping Denver.

In the second half, Jokic had to contend with Minnesota’s trio of big men of Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid, while the Nuggets had to try to contain Anthony Edwards on defense.

“I mean, I think they’re built to beat us,” Jokic said. “Just look at their roster. They basically have two All-Stars, probably two first-team defensive players. Mike Conley is probably the most underrated player in the NBA.

“Off the bench, they have a sixth man of the year. … (It’s) a team that can literally do everything. They can be big, they can be small.”

When Connelly was asked in the hallway near the Nuggets locker room about his plan to eliminate the champions, the Wolves president of basketball operations was humble.

“It’s called luck, man,” Connelly said.

Before the Nuggets headed into an offseason much earlier than expected, they reflected on how difficult it would be to defend a championship.

“Just mentally and physically, conjuring up the energy to fight like you’re being chased,” Murray said. “I think that’s the emotion. When you’re a chaser, you have so much more motivation and you’re hanging on to everything to prove everyone wrong and you constantly have a chip on your shoulder.

“I don’t know… I feel like we should have won tonight. That’s the hardest part. They beat us, but we had so many great opportunities, including myself , so it’s just hard, man.”

Jokic said that with all the talent in the NBA today, a team has to “be basically perfect to win the championship.”

Malone said he knew how difficult it would have been for the Nuggets to repeat after playing until June last season and then playing their core players until the final game of this regular season to secure the second seed in the West.

“This is just a momentary delay,” Malone said. “It’s a failure, it’s not fatal. We will come back.

“The best team won, so I’m not taking anything away from Minnesota…but mentally, emotionally, physically, I think the guys are exhausted. They’re dead tired. They gave me everything I could ask for , and that’s why Even though it hurts, I will walk out of this building tonight with my head held high.”