Three years after Nikola Jokić led the Denver Nuggets to the NBA championship, the peak looked awfully distant for the team from the Mile High City and the three-time MVP award winner.
Ousted in six games by the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first-round playoff series, the Nuggets trudged into the offseason with plenty of questions to answer about their ability to remain a true title contender in the stacked Western Conference. For the first time in four years, Denver failed to make it to May.
“We just lost in the first round, so I think we are far away,” said Jokić, who had 28 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in the 110-98 loss to the host Timberwolves on Thursday night.
Four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert deftly neutralized Jokić during the series. Jokić found some rhythm and spark in the last two games, but his sidekick Jamal Murray had a rough series. The first-time All-Star, who played in 75 games during the regular season for his most in eight years, was similarly smothered by Minnesota villain Jaden McDaniels. Murray went just 4 for 17 from the floor with a game-worst minus-18 rating.
Jokić, who will enter his 12th season in the league in 2026-27, can sign another maximum contract extension this summer. He didn’t hesitate when asked about his interest in reupping his commitment.
“I still want to be Nuggets forever,” he said.
Coach David Adelman doesn’t have the same security, after finishing his first full year on the job. Will changes be in the works in Denver?
“That’s not my decision,” Jokić said. “Definitely, if we were in Serbia we would all be fired.”
But in all seriousness, the Joker doubled down on his support of Adelman.
“It’s not his fault we couldn’t rebound. It’s not his fault we couldn’t catch the ball very well. There is nothing to blame David Adelman. It was all us,” Jokić said.
McDaniels had 32 points and 10 rebounds and Terrence Shannon Jr scored 24 points for the injury-ravaged Timberwolves. With their top three guards missing because of injuries, Minnesota went big with Gobert, Julius Randle and Naz Reid fueling a 64-40 advantage in points in the paint and a 50-33 edge in rebounding.
Minnesota, the No 6 seed in the Western Conference, will start the second round at San Antonio on Monday. The second-seeded Spurs beat Portland in five games in their first-round series.
New York Knicks 140-89 Atlanta Hawks
OG Anunoby scored 29 points in 27 minutes, Karl-Anthony Towns had his second triple-double of the series, and the New York Knicks had their biggest playoff victory in franchise history, overwhelming and eliminating the host Atlanta Hawks 140-89 in Game 6.
The Knicks broke several NBA records by half-time. Their 40-15 lead at the end of the first quarter marked the largest of the shot clock era. Their 47-point half-time lead was the biggest in playoff history.
It was New York’s third straight win after falling to 1-2 in the series following back-to-back one-point losses. The 51-point win tied for the sixth-largest margin of victory in NBA postseason history.
“It speaks volumes on our team that we were able to bounce back from two disappointing losses,” Towns said. “We had to step up to the challenge of being down in the series – super proud of our guys for that.”
Hawks guard Dyson Daniels and Knicks center Mitchell Robinson were ejected after fighting following a pair of free throws from Anunoby that gave the Knicks a 50-point lead in the second quarter.
New York exceeded 100 points with 8:21 remaining in the third quarter. Their starters were done for the night with 2:45 remaining in the third. The Knicks will face the winner of the Boston Celtics v Philadelphia 76ers series in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Boston Celtics 93-106 Philadelphia 76ers
Tyrese Maxey scored 30 points, a resurgent Paul George had 23 points, and a 76ers team who lost by 32 points twice in this first-round playoff series played their most complete game of the season and forced Game 7 with a 106-93 win over the visiting Boston Celtics. The decisive game is Saturday in Boston.
The only team in NBA history to win a playoff series after losing two games by 30-plus points was the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959 against the St Louis Hawks.
Uplifted by Joel Embiid’s early return from an appendectomy, the Sixers rebounded from two blowout losses to win Game 5 in Boston and were buoyed up by a throwback effort from George to never trail in Game 6. Embiid did his part with 19 points.
Brown was hampered by three fouls in the first half and finished with 18 points. Jayson Tatum, who missed most of the season with a ruptured achilles, had 17 points for the Celtics. He briefly left in the third quarter for unspecified treatment of an apparent calf injury.
The Celtics went more than four minutes without a point to close the third and the Sixers stormed into the final quarter with an 82-63 lead.
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