Nikola Jokic had a triple-double in the first game, and Anthony Edwards responded by dropping 30 to tie the series 1-1. Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves’ star players have led from the front and have not been afraid of any competition. Despite their displays, the talking point remains the calls from the officials, which have once again affected another playoff game. This is not the first time it has happened in this series, as both head coaches have traded words, making this matchup even more intense. This intensity led to a scuffle in the dying seconds of Game 2.

Minnesota had the ball and a 2-point lead (115-113), with 32 seconds left. That’s when Anthony Edwards was rightly called for a travel, and it subsequently led to a shoving match. Jokic tried to take the ball from Edwards right in front of Chris Finch, who was standing on the sidelines. But Ant didn’t want to give it up. The referees and other teammates stepped in quickly to de-escalate the situation. No technical fouls were assessed, and the game continued. While this call was right, others weren’t.

With Minnesota trailing 107-110 and under four minutes left, Jaden McDaniels was called for a foul on a dunk attempt by Christian Braun. McDaniels had his left hand stretched, which touched Braun’s torso, nothing excessive or aggressive whatsoever. Wolves coach Chris Finch challenged the call and expected it to go in his favor, but it didn’t. Tony Brothers reviewed and stated, “There’s foot to knee contact on the drive to the basket. Therefore, there’s a defensive foul on the play.” It was the fifth foul for McDaniels, and Minnesota lost the challenge; they also lost their timeout and ability to challenge the rest of the game. The broadcasters immediately disagreed.

“That’s not real contact in this series. That shouldn’t be a foul. I didn’t even see the foot to knee contact. I was looking at the hand, I was looking at the ball.” They viewed the replay again and gave the officials no notice by stating that this was a blatant wrong call. One can now understand why the Wolves players seem frustrated with the officiating crew. These fouls occurred when the situation was tense, but there was another right in the first frame, which annoyed Anthony Edwards.

The clock was winding down with 4:11 remaining. Ant drove for a shot and drew contact from the double team of Tim Hardaway Jr and Jamal Murray. The referee initially ruled it a non-shooting “on the floor” foul before reversing the call. If the call hadn’t changed, then the Timberwolves wouldn’t have obtained free throws. They would have only retaken possession, since Denver wasn’t in the “bonus/penalty” situation. But the referee changed the call to a shooting foul, and Ant shot the resulting two free throws. Even Nikola Jokic was on the receiving end of wrong or no fouls called.

Nuggets content creator Tatiana praised the Joker for staying composed amid Julius Randle’s repeated hard poking and hand contact to his stomach and back. Her statement, “What an absolute joke of the referees right now,” indicated that the officiating crew did not pay attention and let the Wolves man handle the Nuggets superstar. But the issues were not limited to Game 2.

It occurred in Game 1 as well. The Wolves head coach, Chris Finch, has already received a $35,000 fine for speaking against the officials back in December. So, everyone knew he wouldn’t let the issues slide away.

The head coaches had a war of words

The Nuggets won Game 1, 116-105, after shooting 33 free throws, and Finch had a problem with Jamal Murray having 16 attempts from the charity stripe. Comparably, the Timberwolves only had 19. Since the Wolves head coach already saw how OKC foul bait, he put a similar analogy. Maybe we gotta start flopping, too,” Finch said before Game 2. “Julius is not a flopper. Ant is not a flopper. They are physical drivers. They play through the first line of contact. A lot of times, that point of contact, if you were to spill away, you get a foul. But if you keep going, [referees] take a play-on mentality.”

Nuggets head coach David Adelman responded, but with an analogy of his own. “I do think sometimes when you watch film, you just say, ‘Yeah, I think I got fouled,'” Adelman said in Game 2’s pre-game press conference. “Believe me, when we play Shai or somebody who shoots a lot of free throws, and I go back to the clips, I don’t say, ‘I can’t believe you got all those calls.’ I go, ‘Why are we fouling him so much?'” He asked for an introspection from Finch on why his team was unable to stop fouling.

In Game 2, both teams shot 30 free throws as officials were again under scrutiny. But both head coaches now will have to forget about the officials and focus on matchups that can help them win. Minnesota effectively stole home-court advantage by winning in Denver. They now have the chance to take control of the series by winning their next two games at home. After the Timberwolves’ historic 19-point comeback in Game 2, the Nuggets will be looking to solve Minnesota’s defensive “takeover” led by Rudy Gobert.