NBA world reacts to Denver Nuggets humiliating themselves in close-out game

That is not what the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets expected to happen Thursday night . With an opportunity to close out the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 6 of their Western Conference Semifinals series, the Nuggets picked a terrible time to put up an historically-worst performance.

This is not hyperbole. Denver fell to the Timberwolves by the score of 115-70. That included a 20-0 run in the first half.

With the game completely out of hand, Minnesota opened the fourth quarter by outscoring the Nuggets 26-2. That included another huge run. This time, the ‘Wolves scored 24 unanswered.

Guard Jamal Murray shot 4-of-18 from the field, scoring 10 points. Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had more turnovers (three) than assists (two). Denver was outscored by 25 in his 36 minutes of action. That represents the worst plus-minus for Jokic since the 2021-22 season .

Before this thing got out of hand in the fourth quarter, Denver’s bench had scored two points on 1-of-14 shooting.

What could go wrong for the Nuggets Thursday night did indeed go wrong. The end result was an historic 45-point loss to the Timberwolves. It represents the secondl-largest defeat in a close-out game in the history of the NBA Playoffs. Talk about laying a complete egg.

Related: NBA Playoff and Finals predictions

NBA world reacts to humiliating effort from Denver Nuggets

Most were expecting Denver to send Minnesota packing while preparing for the Western Conference Finals against either the Dallas Mavericks or Oklahoma City Thunder.

Obviously, that did not come to fruition. Rather, the Nuggets suffered their worst lost in the playoffs in the histoy of the franchise. Obviously, people had their reactions to this humiliating performance.

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