The Morning Line: Appreciating The Belmont Stakes

The Denver Nuggets lost 98-90 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 7 of their second-round NBA playoff series at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, May 20, 2024. Denver blew a 20-point lead to end their season, handing Minnesota a trip to the Western Conference Finals. Related Articles Denver Nuggets | Nuggets’ Jamal Murray firm on representing Canada in summer Olympics; Nikola Jokic undecided on playing for Serbia Denver Nuggets | Keeler: How Anthony Edwards, KAT flipped Game 7 script on Nuggets: “Once we lock in on the defensive side, we are a (heck) of a team to beat.” Denver Nuggets | Renck: With everything on line, Nuggets choke away 20-point lead in Game 7 loss Denver Nuggets | Nuggets 3-pointers: From up 20 to knocked out, a stunning fall for defending-champion Denver in Game 7 loss to Timberwolves Denver Nuggets | Nuggets blow 20-point lead in season-ending Game 7 loss to Minnesota Timberwolves

Jamal Murray didn’t want the rest. He’s getting it anyway after Denver blew a 20-point lead in Game 7 against Minnesota on Sunday night and bowed out of the NBA Playoffs well short of his expectations. He wanted to keep grinding through a stubborn calf injury, but instead he’ll get some down time.

Ant-Man didn’t just laugh loudest. He laughed last. “I had Jamal (Murray) in handcuffs,” Anthony Edwards chuckled as he walked the halls of Ball Arena after Minnesota stunned the Nuggets, 98-90, to win Game 7 of their second-round series. You know what stings? He wasn’t wrong. When Jaden McDaniels ran into foul trouble, the Timberwolves’ chatty star relished the task of covering the Nuggets’ best playoff weapon. With 4:49 left on the clock, the Blue Arrow sank a 12-footer to pull the defending NBA champs to with a bucket, 85-82.

The Nuggets paged Dr. Heimlich. In their biggest game of the season, the defending champs choked. It sounds unfair because of the difficulty of repeating, because of the competition, but is not when weighed against history. The Nuggets are the first team to squander a 20-point lead in a Game 7. Wasn’t it bad enough that the Avs broke our hearts on Friday night? There’s no way to overstate how crushing this loss is in context with this team, this time, this place.

From celebration to cataclysmic ouster. You could almost feel the afterparty warming up. The Nuggets came out of the halftime locker room up 15 and promptly pushed their lead to 20. You could see Luka Doncic and Dallas preparing to fly northwest for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Then it all came crashing down.

Nikola Jokic’s expression was either vacant or vengeful, defeated or determined. Staring at the basketball court but maybe beyond it, too, he stood alone on the Target Center baseline and watched the fourth quarter of a historic clobbering without taking his seat on the bench. Was he antsy to jump on the team plane back to Denver to play Game 7 immediately?