Game 7 between the Timberwolves and Nuggets was poised to be one of the best of the season, and it did not disappoint. Minnesota, which trailed by 20 at the start of the third quarter (58-38), defeated the current champions 90-98 at Ball Arena, with a comeback never before seen in a Game 7.
With the result in favor of the Colorado team at halftime, no one could predict the final outcome, but the Timberwolves, with the best defense in the league, subdued the champions in a second half to remember. Since possession by possession was counted, in 1997, no one had come back from a 20-point difference in a seventh game.
The Wolves based the comeback on the team, since of the eight players who stepped on the court in Minnesota, six reached ten points. It was not a good offensive game for Anthony Edwards, with 16 points, but the choral work of Chris Finch’s team paid off.
Quite the opposite in the Nuggets. Jokic once again showed why he is the MVP of the regular season, with 34 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists. He also shined his faithful squire, Jamal Murray, with 35, but no one else. The secondary teams barely contributed 21 points, a ridiculous figure to be able to beat these competitive Wolves.
With the victory, Minnesota reaches the second Conference Finals in its history, after 2004, in which Kevin Garnett led that team. In the penultimate step to the ring, Chris Finch’s team will face the Mavericks of Doncic and Irving, who beat the Thunder in six games.
In the other seventh game of the Conference Semifinals, the Pacers eliminated the Knicks 109-130 at Madison Square Garden. The New York team, weakened during the series by the physical problems of its stars, could not complete the feat against the Indiana team, which returns to the Conference Finals ten years later.
The Knicks, who had Randle, Bogdanovic and Robinson injured, also lost Anunoby and Brunson during the game. The Canadian, injured throughout the tie, only lasted five minutes on the court, while the team’s star broke his hand when he had 17 points in 29 minutes.
Josh Hart was also not at one hundred percent, who only added ten points with zero of four from the three-point line. The constant physical problems left DiVincenzo as the only sword, who scored 39 points with a brilliant nine of 15 from three-point range.
On the Pacers, six players reached double figures in scoring. The team led by Rick Carlisle had an immaculate first half, with 76% in field goals, the best percentage in a halftime of a seventh game in the last 25 years. Indiana, which is the big surprise of these playoffs, will face the bogeyman in the Conference Finals, the Celtics, who, after the elimination of the Nuggets, are the favorites for the ring.
Likewise, the fall of Denver means that the NBA will have a new champion. It will be the sixth different one in the last six years. After the magical cycle of the Warriors, with four rings in eight years, the dynasties have disappeared from the league, since no one has been able to consolidate themselves at the top of the NBA.
