A frustrating playoff series finally came to end for Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. Despite the Minnesota Timberwolves being extremely short-handed, the team still managed to eliminate the Nuggets from the playoffs with a 110-98 win.
Jokić, in particular, appeared irked during the series, getting involved in multiple scuffles with Timberwolves players over the six games.
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Following the team’s Game 6 loss Thursday, Jokić let some of that frustration out, bluntly saying the Nuggets are “far away” from winning another championship. When asked whether the team needed to make any changes, Jokić said that wasn’t his decision to make before adding, “If we were in Serbia, we would all get fired.”
From a box-score perspective, Jokić wasn’t an issue for the Nuggets. He scored at least 24 points in all six games of the first-round series. But things weren’t always smooth on the court, as Jokić fought with Julius Randle in Game 4 and shoved Jaylen Clark in Game 6.
It didn’t help that Jokić had to shoulder a bigger load for the Nuggets, as the team was without Aaron Gordon for multiple games in the series. The Nuggets have been a far better team when Gordon is healthy and on the court.
The Timberwolves, however, were also without some of their stars during the series. The team managed to win Game 6 despite Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu sitting out.
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Timberwolves close out testy series with Jokić, Nuggets
It was quite the win for the Timberwolves, who did a lot of talking during the series. The team first raised eyebrows after Game 2, when Jaden McDaniels called out the Nuggets for playing poor defense. McDaniels boldly named names during his trash talk, adding more drama to the series.
Following the team’s Game 6 win, head coach Chris Finch even got in on the act, saying the Timberwolves were motivated after the Nuggets “chose” to play Minnesota in the first round.
And then there was the Timberwolves’ social media team, which had some fun after Jokić was eliminated.
While the Nuggets have consistently been a playoff team with Jokić, Thursday marked the first time since the 2021-22 NBA season the team was eliminated in the first round.
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Denver followed up that season with an NBA championship. And while the same outcome is possible for the 2026-27 Nuggets, big changes may need to be made in order for the team to once again reach that apex.
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