Morsels

For the second time in three tries since, the Denver Nuggets won more games in the regular season than in the year they won the NBA championship. Also for the second time in three tries since that very same time, the Denver Nuggets lost in the playoffs to an empowered Minnesota Timberwolves team. 

According to both head coach David Adelman and team president Josh Kroenke, everyone is on the table, in clear transaction territory, except for Nikola Jokić. Rudy Gobert, with assistance, kept him in a bind the whole series. For Minnesota, a date with Wemby is at 1-1 after two games.

Trading Michael Porter Jr. away seemed a necessity with his injury history, and then his proxy Cam Johnson had a bone bruise and was out for a month and change. Jamal Murray played 75 games, and the prodigal Bruce Brown played all 82. They think, know, they shouldn’t have gone out like this. For Denver, a cocoon of an offseason awaits, a new marvel soon to arise in next year’s model.

The preferred NBA podcast, the one worth hearing, consistently mentions that the Minnesota Timberwolves have made, now, three straight Western Conference Finals at a time when the West has made a resurgent statement that, yes, it is the best. If they are the team that ends up losing 4-1 for a third consecutive year in the West Finals, though, we all may need to reevaluate how strong the West actually is, despite (in spite of?) the imposition of the current Oklahoma City Thunder.

Denver is going to have to shift something this offseason. The Nuggets rode into the playoffs on a twelve-game winning streak and fell flat on their faces once they got the 3-seed. Neither of Adelman nor Kroenke nor Jokić nor the latter’s brothers want any part of anything that looks like this; therefore, change is soon to arrive, after having walked a mile in static’s shoes.