The Good, Bad & Ugly From Nuggets' Game 2 Loss to Timberwolves

The Nuggets have had some slow starts throughout the season, but this first quarter was exactly what they needed. Murray finished the period with 11 points on 3-4 shooting from deep, while Christian Braun and Tim Hardaway Jr. dropped eight points apiece on combined 5-6 shooting.

The Nuggets jumped out to as much as a 19-point lead early in the second quarter, doing their job in the first 13 minutes of action. Of course, an NBA game is 48 minutes, which takes us to the bad.

The Bad: Blowing a lead

Before tip-off, if you were to hear the Nuggets went up by 19 points in the second quarter, you would assume they pulled out a win. Unfortunately, the Timberwolves prevailed. In fact, the Timberwolves came back to re-take the lead before halftime. Minnesota outscored Denver 39-25 in the second quarter to erase the big deficit.

The Nuggets have now blown two 19-point leads in the playoffs in the 21st century. Both of those games have come against the Timberwolves, with the other being in Game 7 of their 2024 series.

The Timberwolves clearly have the Nuggets' number, regardless of how much Denver leads by, and they need to learn how to close out these games. With high hopes for a championship run this postseason, the Nuggets will not be able to do anything if they cannot hold a 19-point lead for even a quarter.

The Ugly: Jokic and Murray in the clutch

With a chance to tie the game, down two points with just 20 seconds left, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic had a great look at a floater in the paint, with only Anthony Edwards there to contest the shot. However, he passed up the floater to Braun, who got fouled. Braun went on to miss one of the two free throws, keeping Minnesota's lead safe.

In hindsight, this was a poor decision by Jokic, and he even admitted so after the game, saying, "I definitely should have taken that floater." Head coach David Adelman had a similar reaction, saying, "You always want him to shoot that shot."

Even looking past that one decision, Jokic and Murray struggled big time in the clutch. The two stars combined for just four points in the fourth quarter, shooting 2-12 from the field and 0-4 from three-point range. Granted, the Timberwolves' defense stepped up, holding Denver to just 21 points in the final period, but the NBA's best duo cannot crumble in the clutch like that.

This was a poor all-around performance by the Nuggets after the first quarter, and one they will have to bounce back from in Minnesota for Game 3 on Thursday.