The shameful performance of the Nuggets was crowned by the blunder of one of the leaders – he threw an object on the court

Colorado state representatives at home 80:106 (20:28, 15:33, 25:21, 20:24) were the men of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who were without the help of under-the-basket defensive specialist Rudy Gobert due to the birth of their first child.

The hosts took the lead only at the very beginning of the meeting (2:0), then kept close to their opponents for some time, but at the end of the first half they already trailed 20:28, and in the second half they were sent to the knockout stage.

The Wolves, who showed impressive agility and intensity in defense, forced the opponents to lose one ball after another or to attack from extremely difficult situations and thus broke the game – 35:61.

In the middle of the second quarter, one of the leaders of the Nuggets, Jamal Murray, who was resting on the bench, lost his temper, making only 1 of 10 shots in the first half of the game and constantly screaming and throwing his hands at the referees.

In one of the episodic years, he launched the first thing at hand onto the field, a medical device called a heat pack, which works like a warming compress. This one first flew into the leg of Mr. Murray’s own teammate Reggie Jackson, and then interfered with Karl-Anthony Towns, who was just attacking the basket at that time.

In this situation, the judges did not identify the bad guy and left him unpunished, which angered internet users in the social space. Some demanded not only a technical foul, but also the suspension of the defender.

Neither Mr. Murray himself, who finished with just 8 points (3/18 shots from the game, 4 errors), nor the rest of the Denver team, were able to catch fire either. After the long break, the difference between the teams already exceeded 30 points – 73:41, 82:58, so everything was already clear.

For the winners, Anthony Edwards (7 assists) and K.-A. Towns (12 rebounds) had 27 points apiece, while Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander Walker each had 14 points.

Aaron Gordon responded with 20, Nikola Jokic had 16 (16 rebounds, 8 assists) and Justin Holiday had 13 points (4/5 3-pointers).

The third and fourth games of this series will be played in Minneapolis, so it may not be necessary for both clubs to return to Denver.

The other Western semifinal pairing, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks, will begin to unravel their relationship tonight.

The first step towards the conference finals in the East was taken by the New York Knicks, who at Madison Square Garden 121:117 (27:24, 22:31, 33:32, 39:30) beat the Indiana Pacers team.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the visitors from Indianapolis were still in front (94:85), but Jalen Brunson, who had rolled his arms, scored 21 points in the quarter and helped the New Yorkers to win.

Having accumulated 43 points (14/26 field goals, 14/14 free throws), Mr. Brunson reached the 40-point mark in a row in the fourth game of the playoffs and joined Michael Jordan and Bernard King who did it earlier.

Donte DiVincenzo had 25 (5/9 3-pointers) and Josh Hart had 24 points (13 rebounds, 8 assists).

Myles Turner scored 23 points, Pascal Siakam scored 19, and TJ McConnell scored 18.