Wolves on brink of being swept: cathartic, or demoralizing for Nuggets fans?

So far, the conference finals have been loaded with exciting games and wild finishes, but the final results have been one-sided on both sides of the bracket. The Celtics, despite trailing by 5 in the final two minutes in two of the three games, have pulled out every game and lead the Pacers 3-0 with a chance to sweep on Monday night.

We’ve seen a similar script play out in the Western Conference Finals as the Timberwolves have been in every game until crunch time, but the Mavericks have been dominant in clutch situations and they lead the series 3-0 with a chance to sweep on Tuesday night.

Would a Mavs sweep make Nuggets fans feel better or worse?

There are different schools of thought on this one. On the one hand, playing a team for seven games makes you build up a certain animosity towards them and it’s safe to say that was the case by the end of the Nuggets’ loss to the Wolves. 

They talked a ton of trash and showed little respect for the Nuggets in their victory. I have no issue at all with Nuggets fans wanting to see them “get what’s coming” and get pummeled by the Mavs in a sweep. There is something cathartic about that for sure.

The Nuggets blew a great chance at a repeat

On the other hand, it’s frustrating to see the Wolves offense fall apart and watch the Mavs flummox their stars, Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Nuggets have to be kicking themselves for blowing that series even more as they watch this play out. This was a massive opportunity to win a title that the team squandered.

Beyond that, it also creates larger questions about the Nuggets’ team going forward. If the Timberwolves had gone on to cruise through the rest of the playoffs and win a title it would have been reasonable for the Nuggets to rationalize a close loss to the eventual champs. They could have made a case that a few small tweaks could get them over the hump and that the only real goal was to beat the Wolves.

But now as the Wolves are on the verge of getting swept, that’s a harder case to make. Matchups play a huge part in every series, but if the Mavs are shredding the Wolves to pieces, maybe the Nuggets weren’t as close to a title as we thought. Perhaps the organization needs to realize there are a lot of teams in the league on their level and they are going to have to be aggressive to improve or the chance for titles will pass them by.