The bigger they come, the harder they fall. In this case, the fall came to the defending champion Denver Nuggets, who didn’t even hear Timber’s shout as their opponents cut them down. The Minnesota Timberwolves not only stole the home-court advantage from the Nuggets in round two of the playoffs, they swept both games at Ball Arena to return to Minnesota with a 2-0 lead in the best of seven. The 106-80 dismantling of the Nuggets on Monday night served as a blueprint on how to subdue the defending champs and how deep the T’Wolves are.

The T’Wolves’ win over the Nuggets on Monday night even came without their top defender. Rudy Gobert missed the trip to Denver after the birth of his son back home. At the same time, he received the Defensive Player of the Year Award before the game.

“It was incredible,” Gobert said at a news conference to recognize him for winning the award for a record-tying fourth time. “I was exhausted, obviously, holding the baby and watching the game at the same time, but I had a little bit of emotions at the end because it felt like there was something special.” He joined Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace as the only players to receive the award four times.

The rest of the Minnesota team’s stifling defense held the Nuggets to a season-low 80 points. The frustration that boiled over also displayed a side of Nuggets star guard Jamal Murray that had not been seen before. The Nuggets guard threw objects onto the floor from the bench while the game was being played. He was later fined by the NBA $100,000 for his actions.

Murray had zero points in the first half when the objects were thrown. He finished the game with 8 points. A heat pack and towel were tossed from the bench during live play. The fine prevented Murray from getting a suspension for his action.
“We tried to impress upon (the officials) that there’s probably not many fans in the building that have a heat pack. So, it probably had to come from the bench,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said after the game. Finch also said Murray’s actions were “inexcusable and dangerous.”

The series now shifts to Minnesota for the next two games, and the Nuggets will try to avoid a sweep. They must play at least one of their next two games to push the series back to Denver.