The Denver Nuggets will face off with the high flying Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, May 19 with a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line. For the defending champion Nuggets, the game is a chance to reclaim the spotlight as the best team in the NBA for the time being. For the Timberwolves, the game is an opportunity for Anthony Edwards to cement his status as the biggest young star in the sport.
The Nuggets have been given a 56.3% chance to beat the Wolves in the latest ESPN prognostications, despite getting absolutely obliterated in Game Six on the road.
Recently, the sports media has reminded fans of the better times in Nuggets lore including Jamal Murray's 10 greatest buzzer beaters. Nikola Jokic also dropped a truth bomb on the Nuggets' ‘great loss' to the Wolves.
Hope may be lost for countless pessimistic Nuggets fans out there, but coach Michael Malone, Nikola Jokic, and Jamal Murray's team will find a way to tame the Timberwolves in Game Seven.
Here are three reasons why:
1. Murray's Heroics-
Jamal Murray is one of the most clutch and exciting players in the game, and he has a championship pedigree with plenty of experience of closing things out in the clutch.
Murray is being overlooked right now, but he always finds a way to rise to the occasion when the going gets tough. The Timberwolves have Anthony Edwards as a clutch scorer and Karl-Anthony Towns has what it takes to carry the baton at times.
Ultimately, Murray is the guy who has done it on the biggest stage before, and the stages don't get much bigger than Game Seven on Sunday. Expect fireworks from the versatile, clutch Denver guard.
2. Jokic's Motivation-
Cameras captured Nikola Jokic's angry death stare during his team's blowout loss in Game Six to the Wolves. That's the look of a man possessed who has what it takes to channel his innermost MVP form in time for Game Seven in the Mile High City. Hip hop superstar Lil Wayne is not a fan of Jokic's game because he ‘looks like a YMCA dad,' but that's just part and parcel of what comes with the territory of being a three-time NBA Most Valuable Player.
Expect Jokic to bull his way through the defense of Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid on Sunday. All eyes in the NBA world will be on this matchup and Jokic will not back down. He has everything he needs and more to win each individual matchup; his main concern will be getting his teammates involved and finding the right rhythm on offense. When it's time to take over, he will, as he knows he must to counteract the scoring prowess of Edwards.
3. Energy and Focus-
The Nuggets took a lead early on in Game Six vs. the Timberwolves only to falter as lazy passes and a lack of focus and energy became their undoing.
With the crowd behind them on Sunday, the outcome will be different. Potential Edwards steals and dunks will be transformed into backdoor cuts and easy baskets by the home team. The Nuggets are surgical with their approach to both offense and defense and they have the players to carry out Coach Malone's complex schemes.
Yes, the score of Game Six was concerning, but the Nuggets still have more than enough bullets in the chamber so to speak to finish off Coach Chris Finch's Timberwolves this weekend and it's going to take a focused team effort to get it done.
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