In the second round of G3, the Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves 117-90 away, and the big score chased to 1-2.
Interestingly, before G2, the Timberwolves without Gobert defeated the Nuggets by 26 points, and many fans thought that the Nuggets were in big trouble in this round of the series, and they might be swept away.
As a result, in this G3, the Nuggets who were fighting away immediately slapped their faces, and they had a rare start to the playoffs so far, leading by 8 points in the first quarter, leading by 15 points at halftime, and leading by up to 34 points in the whole game, and finally gave the Timberwolves a 27-point defeat, and 27 points is also the second largest winning point difference in the playoffs in the history of the Nuggets.
In this game, the Nuggets' starting staff warmed up:
- Jokic, 10-of-18, finished with 24 points, 14 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals
- Murray, 11-of-21, 24 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals
- Porter Jr., 6-of-10 from the field, 4-of-5 from three-point range, 21 points and 4 rebounds
- Gordon, 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range, finished with 13 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists
- Pope, 3-of-6, 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists
The recovery of Murray and Porter Jr. is the most critical, the two scored only 17 points in G2 7 of 30, Murray scored 18 points in the half, Porter Jr. scored 12 points in the half, and by the end of the second quarter, the two had caught up with three-quarters of the Timberwolves' entire team (41 points).
Objectively speaking, Murray has a certain "referee factor" in this game, McDaniels, who previously locked Murray, only played 5 minutes in the first quarter and received 2 fouls to get off the court, and after 2 minutes in the second quarter, he received the third foul again, which more or less promoted Murray's outbreak.
The defense of both teams is not small, but the referee blows different scales, which also causes dissatisfaction among the fans on the spot, and the Timberwolves fans are already shouting "referee sucks" in the first quarter of the game.
With 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Alexander Walker squeezed the cover, Jokic had a hip stretching movement, the referee didn't blow the whistle, and then during the timeout, Walker and Lee Kyle looked for the referee to theorize, and the Timberwolves ate two T's in a row.
After the game, the referee Tony Brothers was on the hot search - fans who pay a little attention to the NBA should know that there are many controversial games for the Tony Brothers, and he is also known as the "queen referee".
And, there is such a news after the game, according to American media reporter Steve Bulpett, Murray G2 was not banned for throwing things into the court, which caused a large number of non-Nuggets players, employees, and fans to be dissatisfied, and some anonymous executives believe that this is the league's order to ensure ratings.
Is there a black whistle? Looking at the free throws of both sides, the Nuggets made 20 free throws, the Timberwolves made 25 free throws, and the Timberwolves made more free throws.
However, the change in scale directly caused the Timberwolves to go from winning by 26 points to losing by 27 points - G2 gave the Timberwolves room to fight, and then G3 suddenly tightened the scale, and the Timberwolves, as a team that relies more on physical defense, will definitely not be able to adapt.
Of course, such a 27-point fiasco is by no means just a matter of the referee.
The Timberwolves couldn't play their due strength on the defensive end, and the offensive performance was really bad, the Nuggets' defense near the free throw line shrank a lot, but the Timberwolves' outside line did not give the Nuggets the punishment they deserved, Edwards and Towns made a total of 7 of 13 three-pointers, and the other players only made 3 of 20.
You know, McDaniels (33.7% three-point shooting rate in the regular season) is not accurate, Reed (38.7%) is 1 of 3, Conley (44.2%) is 1 of 5, and Walker (39.1%) is 0 of 3, which is definitely not normal.
In short, the Timberwolves couldn't compete on the defense, and the offense couldn't punish the Nuggets' strategy, so they swallowed a 27-point loss.
Fortunately, in this defeat, the Timberwolves still have something that makes people shine, and that is Edwards.
In this game, Edwards played 37 minutes, shot 8 of 15, 3 of 8 three-pointers, only got 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 turnovers, with a plus/minus of -32, the lowest on the team.
It's certainly not as good as the previous games, but one detail is definitely worth affirming, when the Timberwolves have already locked up the defeat and the whole team is in a low mood, and then Edwards told his teammates: "It's okay, bro, this is a series, we're still playing well, we need to win four games to win the series." ”
It's not over yet, Edwards also took the blame: "I'm responsible for this loss. I played with no energy, I was mediocre and I let my team and the fans down. ”
Lose to encourage teammates and take the initiative to take responsibility, you know, Edwards is only 22 years old, but he has fully grown into the leader of the Timberwolves, this kind of responsible behavior, many stars who have won MVP and scoring champions can't do it.
It's worth mentioning that Edwards also mentioned: "Man, they [the Nuggets] are the defending champions, we didn't think it would be easy, that's what we wanted, and that's interesting." "—didn't complain about the referee at all.
Although G3 was defeated, the Timberwolves still have the advantage in this series, and this time they did receive some targeting, as well as their own poor feeling, as long as they can adjust, G4 victory or defeat is still difficult to say, with the adjustment ability of both sides, maybe at least six games, more and more interesting.