{"id":638940,"date":"2026-03-04T14:17:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/638940\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T14:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:17:25","slug":"nuggets-slide-to-5th-place-in-west-with-home-loss-to-timberwolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/638940\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets slide to 5th place in West with home loss to Timberwolves"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nuggets are playing with fire now.<\/p>\n

With a 117-108 home loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday, they dropped into fifth place in the Western Conference standings for the first time since Nov. 2, 2025, ending a 119-day streak of top-four status that included 32 persistent days without Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n

Since he returned to the lineup, the Nuggets have lost eight of 13 games, including a clunker to Minnesota that they never led after halftime. Jokic wasn\u2019t the problem this time. He led Denver (37-24) with 35 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. His 37 minutes were a victory. The nine without him were disastrous.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gave them life,\u201d coach David Adelman said. \u201cI really thought it was us, not them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuggets were deadlocked in record with Minnesota when the ball was tipped. They still hold the hypothetical tiebreaker over their division rival after finishing the regular-season series with a 3-1 head-to-head edge. But by dropping to fifth, they have at least temporarily fallen out of position to host a first-round playoff series, which they\u2019ve done six of the last seven years.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re a game ahead of the sixth-place Lakers and 2.5 games clear of the Play-In Tournament as they fly to Salt Lake City for a back-to-back Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good thing to happen,\u201d Jokic said. \u201cThen you\u2019re gonna start worrying. And you\u2019re gonna start to care probably more. I think the struggle is probably good, you know? If you fail, I think it\u2019s just gonna keep you worried, I will say. And then you\u2019re gonna play a little bit harder and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves matched their hosts with 13 turnovers, but they doubled up Denver in points off those turnovers. They outscored their hosts 30-6 on fast breaks. They rode a balanced scoring effort led by Anthony Edwards\u2019 21 and Bones Hyland\u2019s 18 off the bench. The former Nuggets guard danced around Ball Arena with glee throughout a 6-for-7 shooting game and was even bold enough to confront 7-footer Jonas Valanciunas after taking exception to a foul.<\/p>\n

Afterward, Hyland said he doesn\u2019t feel any extra motivation when he plays against the team that traded him out of annoyance<\/a> in the middle of a championship push.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys, if he sees one go in, he might have a big night,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI feel like one of these games, he\u2019s gonna have a really big night for us. And it may come in the playoffs. You never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DonteDonte DiVincenzo (0) of the Minnesota Timberwolves passes to Rudy Gobert (27) as Bruce Brown (11) of the Denver Nuggets defends during the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves\u2019 117-108 win at Ball Arena in Denver on Sunday, March 1, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Jokic came in with 117 combined points in his previous two home games against Minnesota. The Timberwolves have generally been more content than other teams to turn him into a scorer, but in particular, the pick-and-pop 3-pointer is usually a shot available to him against Rudy Gobert\u2019s drop coverage. In those two monster scoring performances \u2014 most recently a Christmas masterpiece that broke the NBA\u2019s overtime scoring record<\/a> \u2014 Jokic shot a combined 10 of 17 beyond the arc. But he came into Sunday\u2019s game on a 15-for-54 (28%) slump over his last nine contests.<\/p>\n

David Adelman calls Lu Dort play a \u2018cheap shot,\u2019 Thunder\u2019s response \u2018ridiculous\u2019 2 days later<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“I think that every player has a little shooting slump or whatever (sometimes), so hopefully, I can get back on track and take the shots that I want to shoot,\u201d he said Friday after a 2-for-10 performance. \u201cOr take the shots that are high-percentage shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

He attempted only four 3s this time against Minnesota, finding his touch from the midrange instead on a 15-for-26 night from the field. He shepherded the Nuggets to a 31-22 lead after the first quarter.<\/p>\n

But Denver’s age-old issues with him off the court have resurfaced recently. The Wolves immediately pulled even with a 9-0 run to start the second frame as Jokic took his usual rest. They were on their way to seizing control of the game, galvanized by Hyland and trade deadline acquisition Ayo Dosunmu. Quick guards like them have often been an Achilles heel for Denver’s defense. Their aggressiveness in transition fueled Minnesota against what Adelman described as poor effort.<\/p>\n

“I thought we let struggles offensively, missed shots, turn into horrendous defense. That run, I believe it was in two minutes and three seconds,” Adelman said. “I told them after the game it was inexcusable. I thought we were very competitive throughout the night, but not during that two minutes. And that can lose you a game against a really good team.”<\/p>\n

\"NikolaNikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets shoots over Rudy Gobert (27) of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter at Ball Arena in Denver on Sunday, March 1, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

“But we still had the 24 minutes to do something,” Jokic said. “So yes, they had the run. It feels like even in the second half, third quarter, we had momentum but they still kind of (would) make a play or score when they needed.”<\/p>\n

The Nuggets trailed by eight at intermission and by as many as 14 early in the second half. They flirted with a comeback several times \u2014 a Jalen Pickett-led 8-0 run late in the third, a brief lightning bolt of energy in the fourth when Jamal Murray posterized Gobert — but Minnesota had an answer every time.<\/p>\n

Murray’s dunk forced a Chris Finch timeout as Jokic checked back in with a 104-96 deficit. A turnover on Denver’s first possession out of the timeout gifted Gobert an easy transition slam. Then Edwards hit a max-difficulty 3-pointer, and the Nuggets were snuffed.<\/p>\n

“This one’s tough because a lot of us didn’t make shots, so your defense has to be on par when we’re not making shots,” Murray said. “Especially when we’re not making shots that we expect each and everybody to make. So it was a tough one tonight. They beat us fair and square. It was a good game. But we know what we’re capable of, and we know how to beat them.”<\/p>\n

Murray finished with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists. Christian Braun’s play continued to trend in the right direction with 15 points, six boards and a solid defensive impact.<\/p>\n

But Cam Johnson, who was haunted by his missed game-winning opportunity at the end of regulation Friday, had the opposite of a bounce-back performance. He went scoreless on six shot attempts as Denver lost his minutes by 13 points. The rest of the starters were all a minus-three or better. Adelman said Johnson’s mobility was affected by an ankle injury. He went to the X-Ray room after the final buzzer and said he’s not confident he’ll be able to play in Utah.<\/p>\n

“Cam is our starting small forward,” Adelman said. “I trust him. Tonight, his body just wasn’t there.”<\/p>\n

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nuggets are playing with fire now. With a 117-108 home loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday, they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[375,7,7291,1828,561,301,187,3943,762,165,152,252,6,253,302,373,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-638940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-anthony-edwards","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bones-hyland","11":"tag-cam-johnson","12":"tag-christian-braun","13":"tag-denver","14":"tag-denver-nuggets","15":"tag-denvernuggets","16":"tag-jamal-murray","17":"tag-latest-headlines","18":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","19":"tag-more-nuggets-news","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-nikola-jokic","22":"tag-nuggets","23":"tag-rudy-gobert","24":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116171339125419917","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}