Down 3-1 to Minnesota, the Denver Nuggets are on the brink of first-round elimination in the NBA playoffs, facing their earliest exit in four years. It would be their third straight season without reaching the Conference Finals. Since winning the title in 2023, the Nuggets have gone backwards.
The Milwaukee Bucks can empathize. Their own title run in 2021 has been followed by a worse outcome every year. Before missing the playoffs entirely this season, they were booted in consecutive first rounds by the Pacers, their bitterest rival. Now, Denver stares down a similar fate at the hands of their own kryptonite in the Timberwolves. As Bucks fans know, it's pure torment.
Nuggets' nightmare is one Milwaukeeans know well
Mike Budenholzer's team reached the second round a year after winning it all, losing in seven games to the Finals-bound Celtics. Agony followed: first-round losses to Miami, Indiana, and Indiana again put the championship parade firmly in the rearview mirror.Â
The Nuggets haven't been stymied to quite the same degree, but being upset by the 6-seed Timberwolves is the last thing fans were hoping for. Denver was unable to even the series at two games apiece despite injuries to Anthony Edwards (knee) and Donte DiVincenzo, the former Buck (Achilles), in Game 4.
The Nuggets' only glimmer of hope rests on the fact that Edwards, Minnesota's best player, is not expected return during the series. After they failed to capitalize on his absence for the majority of yesterday's game, however, that glimmer might be flickering.
En route to raising the Larry O'Brien Trophy, the Nuggets 4-1'd those same Minnesotans in the first round. They haven't been able to crack the code since. Now Denver is in danger of falling to the Timberwolves twice in three postseasons, after bowing out in seven games in the 2024 Conference Semifinals.Â
More than ever in 2026, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic has been neutralized by the length and paint presence of Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. The Nuggets entered this season's series as considerable favorites. On Monday, they face the prospect of being eliminated in front of their home crowd. Everything about it would be painful.
Bucks already dealing with consequences of recurring letdownsÂ
After winning their first ring in half a century, the Bucks consistently fell victim to their own first-round demons. Sweeping the Heat in 2021 turned into a five-game meltdown in the 1-versus-8 seed matchup in '23. In two meetings, Milwaukee took a combined three games from the Pacers.Â
Last year's first-round loss triggered an organizational crisis after Damian Lillard tore his Achilles in the series. Signing Indiana's own Myles Turner in free agency backfired in the worst way possible. 2025-26 was an utter embarrassment and a disaster.Â
In hindsight, with Giannis Antetokounmpo's Bucks future uncertain at best, their failure to get past the Pacers may be the fatal flaw that initiates a rebuild in a post-Giannis era. Ouch.Â
For Denver, at least, no such rebuild appears imminent. The Nuggets already fired their championship coach, Mike Malone. After just one full year on the job, David Adelman isn't on the hot seat.Â
Denver's title is only three years old. The hardware has just begun to lose its shine. After five years in Milwaukee, oh, how things have changed. An ugly first-round exit could thrust the Nuggets closer to a cliff that no one wants to think about just yet.
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