Timberwolves erase 20-point deficit to defeat Nuggets in Game 7 & advance to WCF | NBA | UNDISPUTED

good morning it is time to skip the BS

it's time for Undisputed it's time to

welcome in Paul Pierce wa wait a second

no wheelchair today you're playing hurt

playing hurt man no I'm all right I'm in

the game still so you have an injured

finger I was crushing in the waight room

man crushing in the weight room I was

crushing in the weight room a plate fell

on my hand while I was PL fell on your

hand from where I was doing a plank with

the 45 no nobody can do that really but

you know but true gorillas in the weight

room that is true so and then uh slid

off smashed my hand had to have surgery

but I'm here right early Monday morning

wow you had surgery what did they have

put a p put a p in it in I'm not don't

ask him that question don't ask don't

ask him the question about a p in it or

anything skip the reason I say this is

you know this conversation about

toughness and football and all of that

he had to be sedated to get the surgery

didn't he had to be put underneath

finger smashed open bone came out I

drove myself to the hospital got the

surgery went home did they and drunk a

cup of coffee did they put you under yes

or no did they put you under yes or no

Paul then I'm going go to the weight

room again today why not you w asking me

and get right back in Action did they

put you under yes or no no they didn't

oh so you gave me some laughing juice oh

some laughing juice that's it or gas

laughing gas

oh god well as they like to teus up skip

yeah the different Denver Nuggets you

aren't laughing right now are they no

they're not well we're glad you're back

and we're glad you're okay and we're

glad you're going back to the weight

room today today I'll be back I'm

impressed okay so we had two Road teams

win game sevens yesterday well skipp and

kid I'm in complete shock I never

thought that the Denver Nuggets as good

as a home team as they've been over the

last few years would lose three three

games three games in one playoff series

at home let's start right there Y and

then you have a game seven where you're

up by at least 20 at some point in the

game full control crowd is into it I'm

like oh okay Denver just going to win

and and blowout fashion they're up 15 at

the half and then after that the offense

disappear you know and you say collaps

by Denver but a lot of this is what

Minnesota did being that they were or

are the number one defense in the NBA

all year they have the defensive player

of the year so that played a factor when

you see Denver Nuggets come out and

scored 14 points in the third quarter

yep it's how this Jamal was in the first

half that's how Cody was from three he

shot one for seven now the Stars showed

up to the party but me I say this all

the time you expect your sh stars to

give you star performances in which they

did you know 35 and 34 I'll take that

but when you're role players you need at

least one X Factor on the road when

you're going deep in the playoffs and

they didn't get that look at this would

you believe

that no one outside of Joker no listen

to this Joker and Murray scored damn

near all the points in the second half

let me tell you this look Porter had

three points in the second half and

Braun had two points for the whole whole

second half y you can't win that way

that's it you can't win that way and so

you know yeah it was a collapse but

I'mma take my hat off to Minnesota when

Rudy Gober hit that shot I said it's

over lie to you Rudy go they was up to

sh look they was only up to and I'm

talking about Denver playing as hard as

they can play they only up two and he

does this at the end of shot I'm saying

to myself fading away ripping it cleanly

and that put them up for and I was with

you I said okay that's it that's enough

certain things that happen in the course

of the game when they when you see stuff

like that you like it's oh no they can't

win I don't think I've ever seen him

make a shot like that I don't think a

sure he tries a shot like that off of

one leg with the shot clock winding down

I was like it's over and then from that

point on Minnesota took control Nas Reed

obviously was a big factor McDaniels did

what he had to do 23 points they

decideed they want to double Anthony

Edwards and it and it and it hurt them

so hats off to Minnesota hopefully wait

a second how did it hurt them on Anthony

Edwards well it hurt them that he

distributed to the X factors yeah you

know McDaniels give you 23 klie hits a

huge three in the corner he did he

always hits huge threes and so you know

the guys who stepped up needed to step

up Nas Reed great fourth quarter six Man

of the Year yep and it was just a

complete team effort from Minnesota's

part where I didn't get any anything

from anybody else I not name Murray or

Joker on the other side no yeah no you

you look at it skip they give up

20-point lead right this it is the

largest game seven blown lead in 25

years and you you as Paul said at

halftime they up by 15 but a big third

quarter from Aton knocking down that

three right before they move in the

fourth into the fourth quarter puts him

down by one so at that point the screws

start to tighten against the Denver

and you can kind of see that the stress

factor has started to play right in

there for them defensively Minnesota was

throwing all sorts of bodies at at Joker

at Murray Joker still got his money but

what they did do is they as we've always

talked about all year long what's his

assist rate he gonna get his points but

if you can keep that assist rate down

from them high numbers that we're

accustomed to seeing him get then you

probably are in a good position to win

games he wound up with seven for the

whole game yes seven for the entire game

the Lakers he's like averaging 12 and so

you you cut that thing in half you you

got an opportunity to chance then you

look at the number each each team rolled

out eight bodies on the floor at some

point in time throughout the game y you

talk about Minnesota's bodies every last

body so six of the eight guys with

meaningful minutes were in the double

figure category yeah where I thought

role players Wen supposed to be great on

the road to the NBA standards but the

role players in Jaden McDaniels and

Company and Nas Reed they stepped up to

the plate when anman was struggling and

not necessarily struggling but when

you're throwing two and three B he

literally would touch the football Skip

and not dribble or the basketball either

way basketball yeah basketball and all

of a sudden he you look up it's three

dudes on him he was shooting the

basketball like it was a football go

ahead yeah but you you you know what I'm

saying and then when you look at

Denver's home Road players yeah they

didn't show up did not show two guys and

double figures and both of them were the

stars everybody else is almost like they

forgot how to play basketball at home

you cannot win that way and Minnesota's

been in this building they've won if you

count this game three out of the last

four times that they've been in the

building so the crowd the altitude

didn't it didn't affect them one bit

they were not afraid at all and even

though they were down for a significant

part of that game came they felt and

believed and when the fourth quarter

came they just somehow willed themselves

the victory last seven minutes of that

game just turned it completely turned in

their favor and as the clock started

winding down all I can think about is my

good old friend Mike Malone uhuh who's

your daddy now I'm hey man not my I'm

not gonna go there just yet but in the

end and and I'll say this and I'll say

it right now because I saw cracks in the

foundation throughout the course of the

year for the Denver

Nuggets this could be one of those

situations where everybody else in the

west is getting better Y and Denver is

going to be stuck in neutral because

okay C's young and they're good

Minnesota to the head head guy is Young

and he's good right skip you know the

Lakers aren't going to stay the same the

Clippers will try to figure it out

Golden State's not going to say this

Memphis is getting their guy back so you

could you could go on and who knows what

San Antonio May wind up doing and free

agent Market a trade market so this was

a shot for Denver to to get that second

Championship yeah I don't know that

that's coming anytime soon I am with you

what all right back to Paul's first

point I want to remind

everybody that to your point Denver lost

three home games including a game seven

at home it's crazy and even worse Denver

was up 3 to2 going to Minnesota for for

game six and they lost by 45 points so

they had their shot on the road with all

the momentum only because Joker played

superhuman basketball for three straight

games it was all him all the time Jamal

faded Jamal disappeared Jamal struggled

I don't know if he's injured I don't

know he just looked like about half of

himself over the last four games and

yet when you get it back home to a game

seven I'd pick Denver and seven you had

Denver and seven you think well they'll

suck it up they'll they'll figure it out

the role players will play there'll be

some unknown X Factor hero somebody

somebody somebody and there was nobody

nobody nobody and the shock to me was

once Anthony took Jamal in the third

quarter and he did lock him up in the

third quarter Jamal came back alive a

little bit in the fourth quarter but it

was too late but once he locked him up

their offense degenerated in the third

quarter once they were up 20 it

degenerated into Joker with the ball at

the top of the circle looking around

like it does anybody does does anybody

want it or is anybody going to get open

and then the shot clock's winding down

he's like I don't know I guess I gotta

shoot this yeah and he lost his touch

from three against you guys especially

last year in the Western Conference

finals every time he shot a three he

made it it felt like and just ripped

your heart out because when the

seven-footers out there stroking threes

it's just hard to beat them well last

night he made a couple in the fourth

quarter but all through that run no

rhythm from he had no rhythm and he just

couldn't and it looked like it just

degenerated into is this all we got I

guess so and it looked like he was

shooting them out of desperation like I

I don't know what else to do but throw

this up at the shot clock but the

Minnesota's credit did you notice they

was leaving them open from three they

just said well they dared him after a

while yeah they was like all right look

we'll take the lesser of two evils we're

going to pack the paint in we'll let

Joker shoot the three instead of him

posting us up and giving us all this

footwork jump hook left jump hook right

we'll let them shoot these threes and so

it worked in their benefit because a lot

of those threes was open so that looked

like that was the game plan we'll rather

him shoot those and brick those and come

in here and destroy us in the P that is

correct so it's 1050 left in the third

quarter and Jamal hits a three and it's

58- 38

what would you have bet at that moment

how much would you have bet on Denver

closing the deal seriously bet the house

on that you just bet the

house they're in their house it felt

like Deber was going to walk away with

it just felt it felt that way but then

as they started I understand and and

then back to the point Minnesota had

already won a couple of games that they

they ain't afraid of no ghosts you know

like come on they got you know they can

play with these guys they just beaten

them by 45 and so here they come and

from the 1050 Mark of the third quarter

down to ant-man's three with 307 left in

the game with the were wide open in the

corner

yeah the Run was

54-24 that's at home you you gave up a

30o run yeah

from uh early third quarter to late

fourth you're kidding me I mean that's

just an absolute collapse collapse and

you know is Mike Malone going to take

any blame for this at all I don't know

can you do something can you shake it up

can you put somebody else in can you try

somebody else can you change a play can

you change a defensive coverage I don't

know because they just kept doing what

they've been doing since they won the

championship last year and it did not

work now to Minnesota in the fourth

quarter so Anthony had a rough game

shooting the basketball so in the in the

fourth quarter alone Anthony Edwards

goes one for eight well if I told you

that going into the fourth you'd say

there done you know they're not going to

win the fourth quarter instead everybody

else came to the party everybody came to

the party really every literally

everybody literally every his teammates

in the fourth quarter went eight of 11

and made 12 of 15 free throws that will

work because all of them even um Nas

Reed coming you know Sixth Man of the

Year coming off the bench has eight

points in the fourth quarter yeah every

time I looked up somebody else was

either making a basket or making two

free throws making a play right yep okay

and on the other side to your point they

got nothing from nobody except those two

and those two went pretty quiet through

that 54 to 24 run and so you you just

it's like slow death man you're just the

those fans had to just be sitting there

in horror watching this slowly but sure

I'm sure you were loving it because Mike

Malone has gloated and gloated and we're

going to get to this a little later in

the show but but he had a really kind of

a pissy low road answer to a question a

legit question I wanted to say that

that's why I elaborate on it but but the

point was you know he's a pretty sore

loser after he went along for a great

ride because he had the best player in

the world right for a long time and

Jamal making walk-offs and as long as

that's happening you're you're pretty

good you know and and when you have a

player like Anthony Edwards on the team

although he didn't shoot the ball

extremely well he had some bright

moments and spots at times in the third

quarter obviously that was a big moment

he played great defense

but it's

infectious that his his Aura rubs off it

Chang everything changed life it did

it's a different they all changed right

it's just different you even look at his

post game presser and he got cat sit

next to him does cat talking the talk

now I understand you won the game and

you moving on to the next round but cat

talking that talk like he is all of a

sudden hey like yeah

he up there with the gold and the

earrings and the hat I'm like okay you

know what I like that you're right

because he he wasn't like that before no

but he following his leader though he is

he's empowered now and listen that is

the best game I have ever seen him play

on both ends of the floor because he

goes eight of 14 and he was he had 12

rebounds and he was banging with Joker

and bothering Joker that was the best

adjustment they made putting Carl towns

on you know and so it forced joker now

because how physical that towns was

playing to shoot threes I believe yeah

but this physical plus you can't have

five

points from nobody named Murray or Joker

in the whole second half I don't think

I've ever seen that or heard of that

yeah ever just five points from the rest

of your players in a in a whole second

half of the game okay I mean the biggest

culprate in all of this I believe in the

last three games had to be Michael

Porter you're right I mean he could he

not been a Laker killer man I mean yeah

I thought he played his way a $250

million contract B yeah I mean he gave

you single figures in the last three

games when they needed them most he got

well I thought he got open shots to took

great shots he wound up one of six from

three for the game one of six and they

can't have that this is your third

leading score this is a guy who averages

18 points a game and he couldn't crack

double figures over the last three games

so you know I wouldn't Panic if I was

Denver Gordon Aaron Gordon had four

points last night as you guys know he's

capable of 25 on any given night yeah

but the most disappointing stat for me

and Aaron Gordon who's a guy who I

consider you know a guy who who gets the

dirty work done he has zero rebounds he

has zero defensive rebounds he has zero

defensive rebounds zero defense he had

like that's hard to do that's hard to do

that's hard to do at the power forward

position playing 42 minutes yeah that's

tough you should just end up with a free

throw rebound something like that like

come on come on that's hard to do so I

was a little disappointed that role

players clearly they didn't show up to

the party but if I'm the different

nuggets I'm not p and you run it back

next year Joker's in his prime he's

still you don't panic my my whole point

about everybody's getting better

everybody get better I think they're

going to get better I agree with keesan

on this that they'll be the same but

they're only going to be the same I

don't see them one player one player can

change their Fortune Off the Bench you

know you get a productive player you can

count on starting five is still probably

one of the best starting fives in the

game no question about it but when you

look at the playoff teams the the teams

that were in the playoffs play in

whatever you want to call it Houston's

coming

they just G to get better they're not

going to be a contender no I understand

they getting better they're getting

better got to figure it out I'm not I'm

probably not too much worried about them

probably definitely not worried about

the Lakers you got to talk about teams

like Memphis the young how you not going

to worry about how you not OKC you know

you got to think about the young teams

that are coming like like OKC for sure

they get a little more grit to them they

gonna be ready see I look at it totally

different man I look at teams that all

of a sudden OKC is one thing then in

Dallas is another thing that's another

problem and Dallas is already in the

west got to think Dallas but let's not

talk about these playin teams that you

talking about I don't care look I don't

care what you tell me they're going to

get better cuz they're not going to stay

the same Golden State going to get

better yes they not going they going to

make adjustments somehow they going to

figure out how to get somebody to do

something to help them not going to put

them at the same level as a Denver or

Minnesota or Dallas next year see I

don't know that though Paul I don't know

it's too early to tell I just know they

going to get better and I don't

know all going become better these are

young teams with young stars and and

this is the this is the flip this is the

flip over of the league that like it's

the transition even if you even if you

want to get rid of the oldheads even if

you want to push Phoenix aside Golden

State aside the Lakers aside get rid of

them you want to throw the Clippers in

there too get rid of them okay now let's

just talk about Dallas OKC Memphis is

getting job back and they tell them what

else they gonna put together I have no

idea what what San Antonio is gonna look

like okay see I no idea what they gonna

look like Minnesota after this

experience that they've had when

everybody says well you need this

experience but like Atman said in this

press conference we've been losing every

year in the playoffs what the hell you

mean yes it's finally our turn they're

only going to get better yeah they

they're going to get better for sure you

know where Denver on the flip side of

things when I look at it I'm

like okay you're supposed to be the

Champions and you at home in the game

game seven you blow a 20-point lead

something that hadn't happened in in in

a game seven in 25 years there's a crack

in the foundation you could see it

coming just based on how they were

playing even when they played the Lakers

a playing Team you can see this ain't

the same Denver team from a year ago I

love to see them back in this same

scenario next year I I I really believe

that the Denver Nuggets will be back uh

it's tough to win back to back you know

and no team in the last I think I

believe five years has gotten past the

second round skip that that won the

championship year that won the

championship the year before so it's

tough it shows you how hard it is even

with the MVP even with the MVP so I

think they'll be back I truly believe it

Joker's in the middle of his prime he's

still a dominant player he's going to be

up MVP again next year and as long as

you got a player that you're always

going to be in the conversations of

being in cont so can you boil it down to

they missed Bruce Brown from last year

because he would come in and just light

it up for them yeah I mean

Christian young player but plays hard on

defense they would have gave him a

couple more X factors because in this

game you had three of them that didn't

show up so you add Bruce Brown to that

scenario or even Jeff Green you another

guy that they had you know so that would

have put them at five different X

factors where you only needed one of

them to step up yeah let's just say one

of them gets you about 15 points even

disappeared a little bit he disappeared

yeah I think KP reie Jackson has had his

moments in this League where he can get

you 20 or even 30 and he only played 5

minutes and got you none so I don't know

they're going to have to look to to

maybe get one other key piece coming off

the bench they love Christian Brown

they're still they're all right he's

going to get better they there was a

shot chrisan Brown had a shot in the

fourth quarter when the game was still

close where he had like a little eight

foot he didn't even look at the he just

looked the turned around and went wheel

backwards yeah I saw that I saw that I

was like that was a shot right there

come on man yeah I saw that all right up

next we got to ask Paul Pierce this

question why did he stomp on a jayen

Brunson Jersey Nick Jersey it was a Nick

Jersey I thought it was a

Jaylen thanks for watching Undisputed

fans do you want more highlights from

the show make sure to click that

subscribe button for all the exclusive

content from from Undisputed