“I could blame my ankle,” Braun said. “I could blame injuries that people don’t know about. But that doesn’t really matter. If I’m going to be on the court, the expectation is to win. The expectation is to play well.”

Aaron Gordon is not the problem. But in pursuing a solution, poison pills must be swallowed to reshape this team for one more championship run with Jokic.

Nikola Jokic is due a contract extension. And the Denver Nuggets have tough decisions to make about the roster around him.

The Nuggets are fundamentally flawed. They are nice guys. But by becoming more Zen, they can no longer win.

Garett Bolles isn’t the NFL’s Protector of the Year. He’s the NFL’s Protector of the Decade.

On one side of the curtain, the Nuggets tried to collect themselves. Dumbfounded, duped and left for dead by an opponent that looked unserious for most of the NBA season, their six-month period of self-reflection began in the same hallway where their rivals celebrated. A meager black curtain separated them and the Timberwolves, unconvincingly pulled back about halfway, providing the illusion of privacy more so than the real thing.