The Denver Nuggets (14-13) are set to face the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight. The Nuggets come into this game on their first streak of any kind in 7 games — luckily a win streak. They are going to look to continue their dominance over the Timberwolves that they’ve had for the last few seasons. Since 2018-19 and game 82, the Nuggets haven’t lost a game to the Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves (12-15) on the other hand are going to be looking to right their ship. They are 3 games under .500 and are starting to flounder. Karl Anthony-Towns is typically the only person you’d really have to worry about on the Timberwolves, but this season both D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards have come to play. This should be a fun one.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets vs Minnesota Timberwolves
When: 7:00 PM MST
Where: Ball Arena
How to Watch/Listen: NBA League Pass, Altitude (If you’re lucky enough), and 92.5 FM KKSE Altitude Sports Radio
Rival Blog: Canis Hoopus
Three Things To Watch
Bench Guards
Over the past few games, the Nuggets have been blessed with good play from their bench guards. Whether it be Markus Howard suddenly making his shots, Bones contributing some nice scoring games of his own, or Facu passing the rock like he was Magic Johnson against the Spurs; they’ve had a lot of good guard help over these past few games.
The question is whether or not they’ll keep it up. I’m really unsure as to whether this is sustainable and, honestly, we’ll just have to wait and see. I think the most sustainable is Bones, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Facu do well as well.
Rebounding
Against the San Antonio Spurs and the last game against the Washington Wizards, the Nuggets only won 1 of those 3 rebounding battles, and that was against the Wizards. They play Montrezl Harrell who is shorter than Zeke Nnaji significant minutes — so that’s not exactly saying a ton.
I’d like to see them really get gritty and get a lot of rebounds, crash the glass. Nikola is really the only guy rebounding a lot consistently and I’d like to see that change. I’d like to see 2 Nuggets in double digits for rebounds.
Can Jokic Stay Cool
During this season, Jokic has got thrown out of the game multiple times. He has to stop doing stuff like that. I know that he’s honestly justified when talking to refs a lot of the time, but he takes it too far too regularly. This game I want to see Jokic just keep a cool head on his shoulders and not freak out.