Nikola Jokic had a triple-double in the first game, and Anthony Edwards responded in the next game by dropping 30 to tie the series 1-1. The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves’ star names have led from the front and shown no fear whatsoever. Despite their fierce displays on the court, though, the central talking point remains the officials’ calls, which have once again affected another playoff game. This is not the first time it has happened in the series, and while both head coaches traded words, it made this matchup even more intense. All of this tension culminated in a scuffle in the dying seconds of Game 2.

Minnesota had the ball and a two-point lead (115-113) with 32 seconds left. That’s when Anthony Edwards was rightly called for a travel violation, which subsequently led to a shoving match. Jokic tried to take the ball from Edwards right in front of coach Chris Finch, who was standing on the sidelines. But Ant didn’t want to give it up. The Nuggets star swung his arm and intended to charge at him, but referees and teammates stepped in quickly to de-escalate the situation. Edwards had a taunting smirk on his face while he told the Serb a few things in the referee’s presence. No technical fouls were assessed, and the game continued. But while this call was right, many 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. Finch challenged the call, expecting 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.” While it was McDaniels’ fifth foul, Minnesota lost the challenge, their timeout, and the ability to do so for the rest of the game. The broadcasters immediately disagreed with the verdict.

“That’s not real contact in this series,” one of them said. “I didn’t even see the foot to knee contact. I was looking at the hand, I was looking at the ball,” they reiterated after the play, while replaying it on air again and giving the officials no notice, calling it a blatant wrong call. We can now understand why the Wolves players seem frustrated with the officiating crew. These fouls occurred when the situation was tense, but there was also another one 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, then reversed 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 eventually changed the call to a shooting foul, and Ant shot the resulting two free throws. Apart from this, even Jokic was on the receiving end of wrong or no fouls called.

Nuggets fans praised the Joker for staying composed amid Julius Randle’s repeated hard poking and hand contact to his stomach and back. “What an absolute joke of the referees right now,” Tatiana Clinares wrote on X, and indicated that the officiating crew did not pay attention and let the Wolves foul the Nuggets superstar. However, these issues were not limited to Game 2. It occurred in Game 1 as well. And the Timberwolves head coach has already received a $35,000 fine for speaking against the officials back in December. So, everyone knew from the get-go that he wouldn’t let the issues slide away.

What did the head coaches’ war of words eventually lead to?

The Nuggets won Game 1, 116-105, after taking 33 free throws, and Chris Finch had a problem with Jamal Murray’s 16 attempts from the charity stripe. By comparison, the Timberwolves had only 19. Since the Wolves’ head coach already saw how OKC foul bait, he used 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. “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 Finch for an introspection on why his team was unable to stop fouling.

In Game 2, however, both teams shot 30 free throws each, and the officials were again under scrutiny for bad calls and leniency. So, it’d be better if both head coaches now forget about the officials and focus on matchups that can help them win. Minnesota effectively stole home-court advantage by winning a game 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 look to solve Minnesota’s defensive ‘takeover’ led by Rudy Gobert, something that Anthony Edwards flaunted in Nikola Jokic’s face.