The Nuggets have had their share of difficulties with the NBA’s elite teams this season, but when the chips are down, most of the matchups don’t seem all that bad. They just showed that they can go toe-to-toe with the Thunder, dropping 140 in OKC on Monday night.
They lost their most recent meeting with the Lakers, but that’s a team they’ve owned for the last couple of seasons. The Celtics and Cavaliers have each gotten the best of Denver this season, but I don’t think the Nuggets truly fear them in a potential Finals matchup.
But there is one team that seems to have their number lately, and it’s the same team that former GM Tim Connolly built. The team that was specifically built to beat the Nuggets, and the team that knocked them out of the playoffs just last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Nuggets have a major Timberwolves problem
Last season, the Wolves surprised people a bit by the way they were able to blitz the Nuggets in the playoffs. They came into Denver with their jumbo lineups and crazy defense and took them out in seven games in the Western Conference Semifinals.
But in the offseason, Minnesota traded away Karl-Anthony Towns, the guy who spent the most time guarding Nikola Jokic and did a great job. The Wolves changed their team and, on paper, didn’t seem to match up as well with Denver anymore.
Yet, that hasn’t been the case at all. The Wolves thumped the Nuggets in Denver, 115-95 on Wednesday night, improving to 3-0 on the season in this matchup. This game was a familiar story that we’ve seen play out time and again when these teams face off.
Nuggets must avoid T-Wolves in playoffs
The Wolves used their length and size to stifle the Nuggets’ shooters. They swarmed Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., neutralizing both players and forcing Jokic to beat them with scoring. His assist numbers are constantly down against the Wolves and that was the case again last night with just 4 assists and 23 shot attempts.
That’s not how Jokic wants to play, but it’s what the T-Wolves force him to do. They take his other options off the table and turn him into a scorer. And yet again, a team smartly focused on the Nuggets’ biggest weakness; shooting.
Minnesota bothered the shooters of Denver all night, holding them to just 30 attempts from three-point range as a team. And the Nuggets were never able to get into a rhythm, hitting just seven of those shots.
This is a recipe for disaster for Denver and one that the Wolves are able to expose over and over. Overall, the Wolves have had a disappointing season and have taken a step back from their breakout campaign last year that saw them make the conference finals.
But for whatever reason, they still have a leg up on the Nuggets. They’re battling to get out of the play-in mix, but there’s a solid chance they could match up with Denver in round one of the playoffs. And that is a matchup the Nuggets want to avoid at all costs.