The Minnesota Timberwolves were built to defeat the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs. Their architect, Tim Connelly, left Denver for Minnesota, and the first thing he did was trade for Rudy Gobert to match up with Nikola Jokic. The only problem for the Timberwolves is that because they match up so well against the Nuggets, they left themselves open for defeat after a bruising series against Denver. Both times the Timberwolves defeated the Nuggets, their season ended like a mirage in the following round.
And it's no wonder that it did. It was an unfortunate turn of events for the Timberwolves that saw them lose Donte DiVincenzo for the rest of the playoffs due to an Achilles tendon injury in the Nuggets series, but they had the rest of their squad.
Maybe with a somewhat slowed-down Anthony Edwards, who was hurt himself against the Nuggets. But the Nuggets wore them down in seven games in 2023-24, and six games this time.
The Nuggets might not have to fear the wall after this year
Like the Nuggets, the Timberwolves are likely going to be rebuilding in some form after another defeat before making it to the NBA Finals. And after the dismantling by the San Antonio Spurs this year, the Oklahoma City Thunder last year, and the Dallas Mavericks two years ago, the Timberwolves have new targets for Tim Connelly to focus on.
Let's hope that's the case, because it's obvious the Timberwolves found something against the Nuggets in the playoffs. That something was a Rudy Gobert defensive plan that worked on Jokic when he and everyone else started missing open threes.
And the Wolves used their much quicker, more athletic lineup to blow past the Nuggets from the perimeter and into the paint, hitting as many easy shots as they wanted. It wasn't quite that bad, but it did feel like a layup line at times.
The Nuggets' path to athleticism is going to cost them
The Nuggets were clearly slower on the perimeter, missing the athleticism to defend it and attack the rim on offense. Cameron Johnson started to attack the paint in Game 5, and he kept with it in Game 6, and he probably had his two best games as a Nugget because of it.
The Nuggets were low on athleticism because Peyton Watson was out of the lineup due to injury. Sadly, he's now an upgrade the Nuggets have to pay for, rather than waiting to get healthy like Aaron Gordon.
Watson is going to be a restricted free agent, and for the Nuggets to match the offers he's going to receive, they're probably going to have to part with someone to make it happen. Unfortunately, after those great playoff games, it might be Cam.
Either way, it's going to cost the Nuggets to keep up with everybody else, but at least the Minnesota wall might come down, finally, too.
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