The Denver Nuggets were given their marching orders by the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-110 in Game 6 of the Western Conference playoffs in the first round.
The Wolves’ win will be considered quite an impressive feat, considering they had to play a close-out game without star Anthony Edwards and perimeter-threat Donte DiVincenzo.
For Denver, their playoff run is an abject failure.
Since their 2023 NBA Championship victory, second-option Jamal Murray and the team’s role players have struggled to deliver late in various series.
Cameron Johnson did have 27 points and eight rebounds, but Murray’s timid showing of 12 points really cost the Nuggets.
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Chris Finch: ‘They chose this’
“Denver had the chance to pick who they wanted to play coming down the stretch, and they chose us,” Wolves head coach Chris Finch said after his team’s close-out victory.
“We used that as motivation all the way through preparation and through the series.
“They chose us. They didn’t have to choose us. They chose us, and our guys were up for the challenge of that,” he added.
No guards, no problem
“I knew I wanted to get to it as much as I possibly could,” Finch said, referring to his decision to go to a triple-big scheme in the absence of his primary guards.
“I wanted to get my best players on the floor. Sometimes that’s all it is. And that’s my best five.
“The length bothered them. There were match-ups out there for both Julius and for Naz almost all the time.
“I was kicking myself after Game 5 that I didn’t do it more.”
‘We’re far away’ says Jokic
“We just lost in the first round. So, I think we are far away,” Jokic said, when asked about how far the Nuggets are from the championship picture.
When asked about potential changes to the team next season, he said: “That’s not my decision, to be honest.
“Definitely, if we were in Serbia, we would all get fired.”
Although they got past a Denver team that’s currently a shadow of their former selves, things don’t get easier for Minnesota, who meet a fully loaded second-seeded San Antonio Spurs on May 4 for the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.
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Liberty Nicholson-Hulse 
SportJustSport writers