The Nuggets are coming home on the brink of elimination.

In what is an eighth straight season with a postseason appearance, Denver has yet to lose in the first round in a year where both Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are healthy. That reality is now one loss away after a 112-96 defeat at the hands of the Timberwolves on Saturday night. 

Game 5 is set for Monday night (8:30 p.m. NBC/Peacock) at Ball Arena.

Here are three takeaways from the deflating defeat:

1. The phrase “inexcusable loss” is often overused in the postseason. Every team is fighting for its season and the intensity in the NBA playoffs, in particular, continues to increase year after year. But this is a loss that will stick with the Nuggets for a long, long time. Even though they are banged up with Aaron Gordon playing through a calf injury and Peyton Watson yet to appear in this series, the Timberwolves lost their entire starting backcourt in the first half of Game 4 with Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo exiting and not returning. Edwards appeared to hyperextend his leg while contesting a shot at the rim, while DiVincenzo is reportedly lost for the season with a torn right Achilles tendon that will likely cost him almost all of next season, too. The Nuggets were simply outplayed against a shorthanded Minnesota team, being outscored in the second half 62-42 and allowing the Wolves bench to score 76 points in the game.
2. Another postseason where a lack of help for Jokic and Murray is haunting Denver. The Nuggets’ star duo did its part after a rough Game 3, combining for 54 points. But the likes of Gordon, who scored just nine points on 11 shots in 23 minutes as he did his best to play through obvious discomfort, as well as Cam Johnson and Christian Braun, have not contributed enough on either end of the floor through four games. Johnson, in particular, continues to play a much more diminished offensive role than anticipated when he was acquired last summer and it brings into question what his future with the team will be in a summer where Denver will likely need to trade a key player away if it wants to retain Watson in free agency.
3. David Adelman doesn’t appear to have the answers. After the first-year coach performed well in a difficult position last postseason, guiding the Nuggets to a Game 7 against the eventual champion Thunder, this coaching matchup in this series against Minnesota has been decidedly in favor of Chris Finch and his staff. This appeared to be a much deeper Denver team after adding the likes of Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas and Bruce Brown last offseason, but Valanciunas has not been a factor in the series and the Wolves bench guards Ayo Dosunmu (game-high 43 points) and Bones Hyland have been much more effective.