Denver Nuggets vs Minnesota Timberwolves: main takeaways
By Peter Hooper
The Denver Nuggets have once again closed out another game to remain the number one team in the Western Conference with about 30 games left in the season.
For much of Saturday night’s game, both the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves remained locked in a back and forth duel that featured numerous lead changes and scant separation. Notwithstanding, below we take a closer look into at why the game was so closely contested and what those reasons may mean.
Nuggets And Timberwolves Go Toe To Toe
As we all know every game is different, some games, are more complicated to analyze than others. However, Saturday night’s game was as straightforward and transparent as they come. Denver and Minnesota would play a game that was tight throughout simply because both teams matched each others production.
Denver shot 42 of 88 (47.7%) from the field whilst Minnesota shot 42 of 89 (47.2%).
From three point range, Denver shot 13 of 33 (39.4%) whilst Minnesota shot 11 of 34 (32.4%). Even from the charity stripe, both teams put up similar numbers (Denver was 10 of 14 from the line whilst Minnesota was 11 of 16).
Moreover, both teams would also put up similar numbers in:
Missed Assignments by Denver
Despite both teams trading baskets for much of this game, for the most part the Nuggets played good defense.
However, there were some clear missed assignments that would have afforded Denver more breathing room in Saturday’s game. Some examples of this were Taj Gibson’s dunk where he passed up an open three and instead drove to the lane and slammed it home.
Another example was when Andrew Wiggins cut baseline to receive a pass which he then dunked. The sad part of this play is until that point, Denver did a great job of cutting off baseline drives and cuts.
Moreover, the open three pointer the Nuggets gave up at 3:42 in the 3rd quarter was poorly closed out. The main reason for this was a lapse in the Denver’s defensive awareness. Unfortunately for the Nuggets, similar lapses against Luol Deng at the 1:50 mark in the 3rd, Josh Okogie at 6:26 in the 4th, and Jerryd Bayless with 1:50 left in the game, meant that the Timberwolves stayed in the game by making the open 3’s Denver gave them.
Lastly, the Nuggets lack of awareness gave away a free dunk with 40.5 seconds left to ensure Nuggets nation was kept on their toes until the final buzzer sounded. Ultimately though, a win is a win.
Next. Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone to coach Team LeBron at 2019 All-Star Game. dark
However, Denver would be better off if they become more alert defensively. Their latest win was more difficult than it needed to be. Anyway, if you watched the above clip, you heard coach Malone, it’s party time. Tomorrow however, it will be time to shift the focus to the Detroit Pistons.