The Denver Nuggets Storm Back From The Dead After Taking Both Games In Minnesota And We Now Have A Series On Our Hands

Garrett Ellwood. Getty Images.

When the Timberwolves completed their 26 point ass kicking in Game 2 to take both road games and secure a 2-0 series lead over the defending champs, pretty much the ENTIRE basketball world considered this series over. You had people talking about how this was looking like a sweep! On some level I get it, a 2-0 series lead and then returning home where you've been great all season is going to lead to some overreactions. People tend to be prisoners of the moment after all.

Well, fast forward to tonight, and suddenly things feel a whole lot different right? Just when the Nuggets were declared dead, here they are very much alive. Not only alive but in a pretty good spot in what is now a best of 3 series. It doesn't hurt to have 2 of those games at home because at some point in this series, the home team is going to win.

What Games 3 & 4 showed us is that it's going to take a whole lot more to kill the defending champs than a flesh wound. They aren't going to go down without a fight, and it seems like they're starting to figure out this Wolves defense

After failing to crack 100 in the first two games, the Nuggets just put up 117 and 115 on the best defense in the NBA, and they did it tonight while only getting 7 combined points from MPJ and KCP, who shot a brutal 3-10 (1-6). Once they Nuggets showed that they could absorb the initial energy push by the Wolves to open this game, you knew we were in store for another battle. Sometimes you have guys like Aaron Gordon (11-12 from the floor) who have the game of their life and a performance that will probably never happen again, but so what? That's the whole point. You only need one of those types of performances when you're fighting for your playoff life. The Nuggets got it, and now have all the momentum in the world heading back to Denver for Game 5.

For the Wolves, part of me thinks this was the Basketball Gods way to reminding them that there is a reason these things are first to 4 wins and not first to 2. Perhaps this was their way of humbling them a little bit and calming down the insane discourse that has surrounded MIN and Edwards these last few days. I know Wolves fans have to be a little nervous given Minnesota sports history, because as we see time and time again, when you have the opportunity to bury your opponent in a playoff series, you have to do it. You only get so many chances to put the champs on the rope, and unfortunately for the Wolves they've now blown that golden opportunity.

And while Ant was once again tremendous (44 points on 16-25, 5-8)

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Game 4 was about the "others" on MIN who were so good in the first two games absolutely no showing tonight. 

There was KAT and his 5-18 (1-4) who was just 1-10 in the first half. Conley was just 5-12, NAW a brutal 1-7 (0-4) in his 24 minutes off the bench, and then Jaden McDaniels with a relatively quiet 11 points in his 38 minutes. It's just really hard to beat a Nuggets team that is putting up 57/44% splits while you yourself can't buy a bucket on one end and then aren't getting any stops on the other. It doesn't matter if that game takes place at home or on the road, that is not a winning formula to taking down the champs.

There's no doubt the Wolves have the talent to not only compete in this series, but also win Game 5. By all accounts, this has the look of a series that's going the distance. I think the question is more, what is the Wolves psyche right now? We saw the Nuggets respond well and win two road games with their season on the line, but they're also the defending champs. They've been in this spot before, and it never hurts having the best player in the world.

But the Wolves? This is all uncharted territory. Sometimes blowing the type of opportunity they had can stick with you and bleed into future games, and now that the Nuggets have new life, you have to imagine the odds are pretty low that they're going to fuck around again as they did in the first two games. It's entirely possible that the Wolves missed their chance and now will ultimately pay the price.

To me, that's what makes this series so intriguing. There's no way you could have convinced me heading into Game 1 that the Nuggets would drop both at home, and then after they did there was no way you could convince me that the Wolves would drop both on their home floor given all the momentum they had. Especially for a Wolves team that barely lost back to back games all year. 

And yet, here we are. That's the beauty of playoff basketball. Just when you think you have everything figured out, we get a series like this. I'm sure there will be the same amount of people who will now declare the Wolves dead because the Nuggets won two on their floor, just like what happened after the first two, but to me that would be foolish.

If anything these first 4 games showed that it's impossible to predict this series and we should all just sit back and enjoy some extremely high level hoops while also praying it goes 7 games. We as fans deserve that type of chaos.