NBA: DENVER NUGGETS FRUSTRATED IN GAME 2 LOSS TO TIMBERWOLVES

DENVER — Nuggets guard Jamal Murray lost his cool on the bench and tossed a heat pack onto the court.

Denver’s frustration was on full display in the first half of Game 2 on Monday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves applied the pressure and the defending champion Nuggets lost their temper, trailing by as many as 28 points in the second quarter en route to a masterful 106-80 victory.

Sitting on the bench, Murray was seen on video tossing a heat pack toward the court after a layup by Karl-Anthony Towns. There wasn’t a call on Murray, but a warning from the public address announcer to the crowd not to throw objects onto the floor.

READ: NBA: Timberwolves blitz Denver Nuggets for 2-0 lead

The Timberwolves issued a warning of their own: They’re a force to be reckoned with after taking a 2-0 lead in the NBA second-round series. This after sweeping Phoenix in the first round. Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves flustered Murray and the Nuggets at every turn.

Denver’s opening half was filled with missed shots and aggravation. Nuggets coach Michael Malone was so irate at a no-call after Towns bulldozed through Murray for a layup that he ran onto the court and began yelling at referee Marc Davis. That sort of demonstration in the regular season would’ve drawn Malone at least one technical and possibly an ejection. But there was no whistle.

READ: NBA: Denver Nuggets can’t let Timberwolves supporting cast get hot again

The officials let both sides play and the physical Wolves took advantage. In the second quarter, they held the Nuggets to six field goals and six turnovers, and Denver was lobbying for calls on nearly every trip down the floor.

Minnesota came at the Nuggets in waves and didn’t give them a moment of peace. The Timberwolves were missing center Rudy Gobert, who was back in Minneapolis, where his fiancee gave birth to the couple’s child early Monday.

2024-05-07T06:34:49Z dg43tfdfdgfd