Monday's NBA playoffs: Nuggets face elimination, Thunder could sweep, and Pistons in trouble?

DENVER (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets have developed an intense rivalry, meeting in the NBA playoffs three times in the last four years. The Nuggets bounced the Wolves 4-1 in 2023 on their way to the franchise's first NBA championship but Minnesota won the rematch a year later, capped by a 20-point second-half comeback in Game 7 in Denver. This year the Nuggets rolled into the playoffs on a 12-game winning streak and handled the Timberwolves in the opener of their Western Conference playoff series only to blow a 19-point lead in Game 2 before getting throttled twice in Minneapolis. Even with their starting backcourt of Donte DiVincenzo (Achilles) and Anthony Edwards (knee) getting hurt Saturday night, the Wolves raced past the Nuggets 112-96 behind Ayo Dosunmu's career-best 43 points, the most by a reserve in a playoff game in half a century. Game 5 is in Denver and another flop could send the Nuggets into a stunning early exit and an offseason of change after an injury-marred first full season under coach David Adelman, who has had no answers for the Nuggets' sudden struggles. The Minnesota-Denver game is the nightcap of a three-game slate Monday, one that also could see the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder get their third consecutive first-round sweep. The Thunder lead Phoenix 3-0, with Game 4 on the Suns’ home floor. Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP, was a maestro in Game 3, scoring 42 points on 15-for-18 shooting. “He doesn’t need a ton of direction from me,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Gilgeous-Alexander. “But I thought he was obviously outstanding. The efficiency was ridiculous. For him to score like that, on 15 of 18, is a really impressive game.” And leading off the night is Game 4 in Orlando, where the eighth-seeded Magic will aim to take a 3-1 lead over the top-seeded in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup. “Being up 2-1 at home is a good thing, but again, you got to come out and do it again,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said after Saturday’s Game 3 win. “And that’s why I’ll keep saying it’s the one game. ... We’ve got to learn from this game and what we could do better.” The only fight the Nuggets have put up since their series-opening win came when took offense to scoring an uncontested layup with 2.1 seconds left after the Nuggets had conceded their Saturday night. Jokic ran from one end of the court to the other to shove McDaniels, who after Game 2. Players from both teams converged around them to broaden the scuffle. Timberwolves forward , who was livid with Jokic, was ejected along with Denver’s center. “He scored when we’d stopped playing,” Jokic explained. “You guys saw what happened.” The Nuggets have long odds to bounce back and advance. In NBA history, only 13 of 298 teams facing a 3-1 deficit came back to win the series. The last team to do it? The Nuggets in 2020, against both the and the .