Barkley predicted Denver’s elimination. He had high praise for Minnesota.
TNT’s NBA play-by-play man Charles Barkley gave his series outlook after Game 2 of the second round between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night.
Minnesota’s run with the wolves continues. After sweeping superteam Phoenix in four games in the first round, they took the first two games of the second round against defending champion 메이저 토토사이트 Denver.
Taking two in a row at Denver’s home arena, known as the graveyard of traveling teams, is a very encouraging achievement. Now, Minnesota looks to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 20 years in the Kevin Garnett era.
The biggest driving force behind Minnesota’s playoff success has been their stingy defense. This season, they posted dominant team defensive stats, with the lowest goals against average in the regular season and the highest defensive rating.
Their Game 2 performance against Denver was particularly shocking. They held Denver in check despite Rudy Gobert, who was named the league’s best defender, missing for the birth of his wife. Even Nikola Jokic, the best player in the game and a strong MVP candidate, was not as effective as usual in front of a suffocating defense.
Charles Barkley, an NBA commentator and one of the most outspoken voices in the game, predicted that Minnesota would pull away and sweep Denver. Denver, which was considered the West’s favorite to make the Finals, hit a bump in the road in the second round.
Barkley said, “Minnesota’s talent is real. This series is over. Minnesota is going to sweep Denver. Denver has lost the advantage and the MVP is being overwhelmed. Denver’s advantage is nowhere to be found. Jamal Murray is still not healthy, in my opinion. I don’t see Denver’s advantage anywhere,” he said.
“I said before the season that I didn’t believe in Minnesota. But they changed my mind 100%. Minnesota will win this series,” he added.
Barkley noted that Yokichi, the league’s best player, hasn’t been able to dominate the Minnesota paint in Kobe’s absence.
“He’s a very good player, but not in this series,” Barkley said. Even when the other guy (Rudy Gobert) was out with the birth of his child, he didn’t dominate the game. It’s hard to see how playing Karl-Anthony Towns and Kobe at home against Minnesota is going to be tough.”
“Minnesota has Anthony Edwards. He seems to lead the other guys well, and the other guys follow him well,” Barkley said, not forgetting to praise the young ace.
While Barkley may not be entirely right about the “Barkley curse,” Minnesota’s playoff run is arguably the best of any team. Can Minnesota keep up the momentum as they are having their best playoff run ever?