Nikola Jokic’s blunt reaction to ugly Game 2 loss will worry Nuggets fans

On Monday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves walked into Ball Arena in Denver and handed the Nuggets their biggest home loss in the last five years. And now, after suffering a 106-80 defeat that was equally embarrassing as it was convincing, the defending champions of the National Basketball Association are officially on the ropes.

Not only has Minnesota taken a 2-0 series lead and stolen home court advantage from Denver like a 6th-grade bully cruelly steals away a 2nd-grader’s lunch money, they’ve seemingly solved a Nuggets offense that has befuddled nearly every opponent who has been in their path over the last two seasons. 80 points is Denver’s lowest scoring output since January 2018, and mind you, this was done without Rudy Gobert, the soon-to-be four-time Defensive Player of the Year, who missed Game 2 due to the birth of his son.

After the game, Nikola Jokic, who is expected to be named NBA MVP for the third time in his career on Wednesday, was just as lifeless at the podium as the Nuggets were after the game, when he was asked how he thought his team would respond in Game 3.

“I don’t know. We will see,” Jokic said, per Ryan Blackburn of Mile High Sports.

Jokic wasn’t the only member of the Nuggets organization who was visibly frustrated during and/or after the game. When Nuggets head coach Michael Malone stepped to the podium, he didn’t beat around the bush in regards to the mental state of his team.

“It was a very, very quiet locker room…I’m taking it as – our guys are disappointed in that performance…we got outcoached and outplayed,” Malone said, according to Brendan Vogt of DNVR.

Defense is what has brought Minnesota to this stage of the dance, but it’s Anthony Edwards who will be responsible if the Wolves continue to rampage through the NBA Playoffs. The 22-year-old budding superstar scored 27 points in Game 2 after a 43-point explosion in Game 1, and all throughout the game, he was letting the Nuggets know about it.

“Let me put it like this: When Ant is out there talking his s—, I know that we’re in for a good night,” Edwards’ teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 27 points himself in Game 2, said after the game, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Two plays in particular were worth noting:

In the 1st half, Anthony Edwards dropped Reggie Jackson to his knees on the hardwood like Jackson was getting ready to pray inside of an old Catholic church…