It is said that in the NBA playoffs, home court advantage plays a huge role, and every team wants to fight for it. But sitting at home in the Western Conference semifinals between the Timberwolves and Nuggets seems to have become a headache — the first three games of the series have already gone 3-0 on the road. Before the start of the game, the Timberwolves were the only undefeated team in this season's playoffs, and after losing to the Nuggets by 27 points, their undefeated gold was broken, and it was announced that there was no more undefeated invincible team.
Even so, neither the Timberwolves players nor fans have seen a morale breakdown. After all, the playoffs are a game where one side wins the first four wins, and the Timberwolves still have one more win than the Nuggets.
The home fans did not leave the stadium in large numbers because of the big loss, and the Minnesotans still went out of their way to cheer for the home team, chanting "Wolves in 5" in the hope that the home team can sweep the Nuggets 4-1 and advance to the Western Conference Finals. The performance of the Timberwolves fans was in stark contrast to the performance of the Nuggets home fans in the last game, the defending champions also threw in the towel with 5 minutes left in the game, and the fans gave Edwards the MVP cry and shouted "Wolves in 5", hoping that the opponent would sweep their own team.
The reason for this completely different situation is that, on the one hand, compared to the Nuggets, who lost two home games and were already on the edge of the cliff at the time, the Timberwolves, who lost to G3, still have the home court advantage of the series, and their rotation depth is still more secure. The outbreak of the defending champion is inseparable from Murray's bottoming out, and although his own Edwards also scored 19 points, there were 5 turnovers, everyone knows that Huazi can't be so sluggish all the time, and Murray will not break out every game.
As for Murray's outburst, a prerequisite is that he was not suspended for irrational behavior such as insulting the referee and throwing debris into the court twice in Game 2, and the league only issued a $100,000 fine. Just imagine, if Murray is suspended, then the Nuggets will lose the rhythm point that allowed them to establish a huge advantage in this game, the probability is completely different, from the perspective of the league, of course, I don't want this round of needle-to-point dialogue with Maimang to divide the superiority too early, but for the Timberwolves, it is indeed a bit unfair.
In this regard, former NBA player Nick Young bluntly wrote on his personal social media: "The NBA is disgusting! When I learned that Murray wasn't suspended, I knew the Timberwolves didn't have a chance. Yang Shaoxia meant something, and what was revealed between the lines was that in addition to Murray not being banned, there was no need to make a fuss about some of the referee's somewhat unbelievable decisions by the Tony brothers. I have to say that Yang Shaoxia really dares to say it, and it is precisely because he has faded out of the arena and does not work in ESPN that he can say whatever he wants.
Although the loss by 27 points was indeed embarrassing, the Timberwolves clearly did not sink because of this, as Edwards said to his teammates after the game: "This is the series, bro, we are still good", the key is how to play the next game. I also expect the young Huazi to give a strong response in his own way in the later game.