Timberwolves eliminate Nuggets in Game 6

Minnesota didn’t just survive Game 6. The Timberwolves controlled it, won 110-98 at Target Center, and sent Denver out of the playoffs in six games. That matters on its own. But the bigger twist is who did it and how — a shorthanded Wolves team beat a Nuggets group that entered the postseason looking like a real title threat. Now Minnesota moves on, and Denver heads into a summer that suddenly feels much louder. (nba.com) ### How did Minnesota close it out? Jaden McDaniels was the tone-setter. He scored a game-high 32 and spent the night making life miserable for Jamal Murray, who finished with 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting. Terrence Shannon Jr. gave Minnesota another 24, Julius Randle had 18, Naz Reid chipped in 15, and Rudy Gobert filled the gaps with 10 points, 13 rebo(nba.com) turnovers in that loss, they had only seven in the clincher. (fox9.com) ### Why does the injury angle matter so much? Because Minnesota did this while missing a huge chunk of its offense and rotation. Anthony Edwards was out with a knee injury. Donte DiVincenzo was out with an Achilles issue. Ayo Dosunmu was out with a calf injury. Kyle Anderson was unavailable too. So this wasn’t the full-strength version of the (fox9.com)se for Denver and more impressive for Minnesota. (fox9.com) ### What went wrong for Denver? The simple answer is that Denver’s stars never consistently looked like Denver’s stars. Nikola Jokić and Murray both had stretches in the series, but not the kind of sustained control the Nuggets usually need. Minnesota’s defense deserves real credit here — Denver, the league’s highest-scoring offense in the reg(fox9.com)s not a random cold spell. That is a series-long problem getting exposed. (nba.com) ### Was this about more than one game? Yes — this series had a running edge to it. Chris Finch said his team used Denver’s late-season path into the 3-vs-6 matchup as motivation, basically framing it as the Nuggets choosing this opponent. Whether that was fully fair or not almost doesn’t matter now. Minnesota believed it, played like it, and kept that ch(nba.com)ud, confrontational, and then productive enough to back it up. (nba.com) ### What did Denver say afterward? Jokić didn’t dodge the bigger picture. He said the Nuggets are “far away” from title contention after the first-round exit, and he put a lot of blame on himself. But he also defended coach David Adelman, saying, “It’s not his fault we couldn’t rebound.” That matters because Adelman is still a natural focus after a seaso(nba.com)was the level Denver reached as a team. (africa.espn.com) ### So what changes now? For Minnesota, the immediate reward is a Western Conference semifinal against San Antonio and a third straight trip to the second round. For Denver, the offseason conversation just got sharper. The Nuggets won 54 games, still have Jokić, and still have Murray. But a first-round exit to an injured (africa.espn.com)ster really has left. (fox9.com) ### Bottom line The Timberwolves didn’t steal this series. They earned it, even while missing major pieces. And Denver’s loss feels bigger than one bad night — it looks like a warning that having Nikola Jokić is no longer enough by itself. (nba.com)