Nuggets coach Michael Malone: defense of NBA title won’t get any easier against Wolves in Round 2

By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer

DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets needed just five games to dispatch the Los Angeles Lakers from the playoffs for a second consecutive year. But it wasn’t that easy. They trailed by double digits in the first four games and by nine points Monday night before rallying for a 108-106 win on Jamal Murray’s second game-winning basket of the series. Up next is a another tough opponent in the Minneosta Timbewolves, who were the best team in the Western Conference for most of the season before Denver and Oklahoma City snuck past them in the final weekend of the regular season.