The 2023/24 National Basketball Association (NBA) play-offs have been enticing so far and have basically played true to form. The sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference is the lowest seed to advance from the first round, but they played a Milwaukee Bucks team that was without Giannis Antetokounmpo for the series and a hobbled Damian Lillard, who missed two of the six games.

Only one series in the first round came down to a seventh game decider, where the Cleveland Cavaliers outmuscled the Orlando Magic to book their conference semi-final spot. And their reward is the daunting task of facing the only team in the NBA that breeched the 60-game ceiling, the Boston Celtics. That series got underway on Tuesday (May 7), with Boston registering an emphatic win in the chase for their 18th championship.

Jaylen Brown led the NBA’s top seed with 32 points, alongside Derrick White’s 25, which included seven three-pointers, as the Celtics cruised to a 120-95 victory in Boston. Donovan Mitchell top-scored for the visitors with 33 points, but the Cavaliers fell woefully short as the Celtics were in complete control for most of the game, holding a double-digit lead through the second half.

That said, the most compelling story in this round of the playoffs has been the anticipated matchup between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the defending champion Denver Nuggets, seeded number one and number two, respectively, in the Western Conference. These teams split the regular season series 2-2 and also split victories on each other’s home court (the exact same record they had in the previous season), which set the stage for this intriguing series. Not to be forgotten is the fact that Minnesota was bundled out of the playoffs (1-4) in the first-round last year by Denver on their path to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

This year, after sweeping the Phoenix Suns in the first round, the Timberwolves put the NBA on high alert. The core of Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert has been a force in a very competitive Western Conference and were just one win away from equalling the record of the two teams that finished ahead of them in the standings – The Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, respectively.

The Nuggets welcomed their opponents into Ball Arena last Saturday (May 4) with an intimidating 13-1 home playoff record since the start of their 2023 title run, for Game 1 of the conference semi-final series. What transpired thereon was beyond the imagination of most casual onlookers and certainly left the Denver fans in a state of mile-high distress.

Both teams started slowly, failing to put 50 points each on the board by half-time, but Minnesota was clearly the better of the two teams in the second half. They were locked in a back-and-forth battle to start the third quarter, with both teams delivering punch for punch in the heavyweight contest, but four unanswered points by Edwards created the separation that led to a 106-99 upset. Nikola Jokic racked up 32 points in the losing effort, but Edwards, the emerging breakout player of this postseason, put up a game-high 43 points to push his team over the hump.

Towns added 20 points and Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) Gobert grabbed 13 rebounds. But it was this season’s Sixth Man of the Year, forward Naz Reid, who looked like an All-Star in the fourth quarter, finishing with 16 points. With Towns in foul trouble and on the bench, he scored 14 points in the game’s final 12 minutes and had a stretch where he scored 10-straight, including a pair of 3-pointers and a dunk, to give the Timberwolves a 94-88 lead. Nuggets guard Jamal Murray had his moments in the fourth quarter, but the inconsistency that has plagued him during these playoffs continues to be an issue. Murray had seven points on 3-for-9 shooting through three quarters and finished the game with 17 points, but if the Nuggets are to advance to the Western Conference Finals, Jokic will need his guard to show up.

Game 2 on Monday (May 6) was expected to be a bounce back for Denver, but what transpired was a beat down of the highest order, and Minnesota registering their largest margin of victory in a road playoff game in franchise history. With DPOY Gobert unavailable (tending to the birth of his son), the Timberwolves were outrebounded by their counterparts but otherwise put on a defensive clinic, holding the Nuggets to just 34.9 per cent shooting and forcing 19 turnovers in a suffocating 106-80 victory.

Unlike Game 1, the Timberwolves got off to a fast start and never looked back. They quickly established a double-digit lead and took a commanding 61-35 score line into the half-time break. Edwards and Towns each had 27 points – plus 12 rebounds for Towns – in the rout that took the life out of the normally raucous Denver crowd. Jokic was held in check for 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting, while Murray ended 3-of-18 from the field and managing just eight points in 36 minutes.

The Nuggets are now trailing in a playoff series for the first time since the start of their 2023 championship run, and the Timberwolves improved to 6-0 this postseason as the series moves to Target Center in Minnesota tonight. Jokic has been a rock for Denver in these playoffs, but Murray has struggled to find form, shooting just 37.5 per cent from the field through seven playoff games, while the Edwards-Towns duo for Minnesota has been creating content for the highlight reels game after game.

It must be worrying for Denver that the Minnesota team that showed up for Game 2 will be bolstered by the return of Gobert for Game 3. A loss tonight would place Denver on the brink of elimination and place Minnesota one game away from its first conference finals appearance since 2004, with Kevin Garnett, Sam Cassell, and Latrell Sprewell. However, a Denver win in Game 3 could possibly ignite one of the best series in this NBA postseason. Strap in, this could be a wild ride.

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