The overwhelming NBA MVP for the year was in his usual deadly form, doing what he does best: use his basketball IQ to score, assist, rebound and destroy the opposition.
After receiving his third MVP trophy in a pre-game ceremony, Nikola Jokic dropped 40 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds in an efficient outing where everything, including Rudy Gobert, the year’s Defensive Player 9and for time Defensive Player of the League), double teams including two bigs on a big (Gobert and Towns on Jokic) as well as the kitchen sink were thrown at him just to control or manage him at the last. But to no avail.
In a sense, no passing of the torch has been made as the Nuggets and Jokic made sure that any talk of Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves who snatched two quick victories in Denver were being touted as the new possible NBA Champions.
To be sure, we see here the champions (in the Nuggets) and the face of the possible NBA champions in the future (the Timberwolves) in a titanic struggle of domination.
The 22 years old Anthony Edwards’ achievements with his team are indeed phenomenal encapsulates this possibility. Averaging at 32.1 points per game in the play-offs and shooting more than 50% from the field, many were quick to say that he is IT.
But three straight losses (their first for the season) showed that indeed in the play-offs, what counts would be the performance of the night. Placed in the scale versus Jokic, Anthony Edwards was found wanting in the most crucial game that can tip the scale of who will move forward to the finals; in fact, he scored just 18 points from 5 of 15 from the field and constantly hounded by defenders bringing him down to an average scored for the night.
If the Timberwolves defense was the talk of the town, it did not stand up well with the Nuggets offensive juggernaut.
The series will go back to Minnesota and the Timberwolves will have the chance to grow-up further in terms to learning from defeat to move forward with wins. The champion Nuggets have shown how it is done.
The upcoming Timberwolves must be able to form the needed character for the team if they want to one day, hope to displace the champions and win an NBA championship themselves.
