Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Nuggets' Game 7 choke job gives them dubious NBA record

By Sai Mohan | Last updated 5/20/24

Typically, a team trailing 53-38 at halftime isn't considered to be facing an insurmountable deficit in the modern NBA. However, Game 7s are a different beast.

Entering Sunday's game between the Nuggets and Timberwolves, no team had overcome even a 12-point halftime deficit in a Game 7, with only the Warriors returning from 11 down to claim two such series-clinchers — in 2018 and 1975.

As such, the odds were stacked heavily against the Timberwolves. To make matters worse, the Nuggets came out of the break in sizzling fashion, pushing the lead to 20 with 10:50 left in the third.

They didn't get the message that they were supposed to be finished, though.

The Timberwolves would go on a 60-32 run in the final 22 minutes to stun the defending champions, relying on the No. 1 defense that brought them to the chance in the first place.

The @Timberwolves trailed by 15 at halftime—it's the largest halftime deficit EVER overcome in a Game 7! #NBA | #WolvesBack pic.twitter.com/MTjLP6v4if
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) May 20, 2024

Teams are 20-0 all-time when up by 15+ points at half in a Game 7. pic.twitter.com/IGSqo9szNb
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 19, 2024

Although Minnesota deserves all the credit in the world for rewriting the history books, Denver scripted an old-fashioned choke job to squander the momentum for which it is rightly being criticized. According to Kendrick Perkins, the Nuggets underestimated the Timberwolves by relying on their one-two punch of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

"A team will always outdo a two-headed monster, and that's what we saw tonight," Perkins said on ESPN's "SportsCenter" late Sunday night.

To Perkins' point, Jokic and Murray did their part, combining for 69 of Denver's 90 points. However, no other Nuggets player scored in double digts.

Incidentally, the Knicks were also down by 15 to the Pacers in the other Game 7 on Sunday. However, the injury-riddled New York squad couldn't upset the apple cart like Minnesota.

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