Pretty much no one but the players on the Minnesota Timberwolves roster had that ball club beating the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the West postseason, but yet, here we are. And now that the team who has had Boston’s number more than any other team in recent years is out of the running to represent the Western Conference in the 2024 NBA finals,

That -- and the fact that the Nuggets had a 20-point lead in the second half of Game 7 -- is what makes Denver's second-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves so jarring. There's no caveat here. Minnesota didn't win this series when Jokic rested.

The Nuggets came out of the halftime locker room up 15 and promptly pushed their lead to 20. You could see Luka Doncic and Dallas preparing to fly northwest for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.