The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves will meet tonight for the first time since Game 7. Both teams played each other in the preseason, and while the Nuggets played their starters, the Timberwolves didn’t play a single rotation player.
When both teams last played for real in Minneapolis, the Nuggets lost by 45 points. 115-70 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals and the precursor to Denver’s most disappointing playoff finish in recent memory. In previous years, the Nuggets had injury excuses for the way things went.
Last year? The Nuggets simply failed.
Denver’s hoping to change that this season. They let go of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who struggled to keep up with superstar shooting guard Anthony Edwards physically. Christian Braun, the best primary defender on Edwards in that series, is now Denver’s starter. Unfortunately, Braun’s presence isn’t going to help Denver’s spacing on the offensive end in an eventual playoff series.
What might help is the departure of Karl-Anthony Towns. The Timberwolves decided trading the expensive big man was in their best interest, replacing him in the starting lineup with traditional power forward Julius Randle. They also added versatile shooter Donte DiVincenzo to the mix off the bench.
That changes the way they can guard the Nuggets. While Rudy Gobert is about as good of an individual defender as there is in the NBA, his skill set is best used in help defense. That means guarding Aaron Gordon (or possibly Christian Braun) to stay close to the rim.
Can the Timberwolves do that this year with Randle instead of KAT? Can Randle guard Jokic 1-on-1 with help behind him? That was KAT’s greatest contribution to last year’s playoff series. Maybe Randle can do a similar job, but I doubt he can do what KAT did.
That means more Naz Reid, who was also great in that Nuggets series, especially in Game 7. Denver can crack that match-up though, Jokic specifically.
What they may not be able to crack is Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. being guarded by Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker specifically. Murray averaged just 18.4 points and 4.4 assists per game in the series, shooting 40% from the field and 33% from three. Porter was even worse, averaging just 10.7 points while shooting 37% from the field and 32% from three.
The Nuggets don’t have a lot of answers if Murray and Porter don’t play well. They’ve both started the season slowly, and there’s rampant concern among Nuggets fans about their ability to bounce back for a playoff match-up like this.
So, can the Nuggets crack this match-up? Different starting units. Different bench units. Different year. Different motivations.
We get our first look tonight.
