It’s Minnesota vs. Denver, again.
For the third time in four seasons, the Nuggets and Timberwolves will meet in the postseason. Denver beat Minnesota in five games in Round 1 of the 2023 playoffs en route to winning a title. Minnesota exacted revenge the following spring, ousting Denver in seven games in the conference semifinals.
The two teams met 20 total times across those two campaigns. The two teams have split their last 28 meetings overall.
So familiarity is in the air … correct?
Donte DiVincenzo said both sides will have counters for each move presented in the best-of-seven series. But such is the playoffs, a period in which you have ample time to prepare for one opponent.
But as far as the specific familiarity between the two foes, “I think, media-wise, you guys are going to talk about it way more than we are,” DiVincenzo said.
Just how much of that past experience is relevant remains to be seen. Minnesota’s primary on-ball defender for Nikola Jokic during the 2024 playoffs was Karl-Anthony Towns.
DiVincenzo and Julius Randle were in New York. Bones Hyland was with the Los Angeles Clippers, and Ayo Dosunmu was in Chicago.
In that 2024 series, the Wolves used Rudy Gobert as a roving rim protector while ignoring Aaron Gordon in the corner.
Gordon has shot 41% from 3-point range over the past two seasons. Denver is now the best 3-point shooting team in the NBA, with a deeper, revamped roster that better suits the strengths of Jokic.
Wolves coach Chris Finch said the epic series from two years ago isn’t “overly relevant” to what’s to come.
Yes, there is familiarity in individual matchups. Gordon and Christian Braun know the task in front of them in attempting to guard Anthony Edwards. Edwards has seen a blitzing Jokic in pick and roll coverage thousands of times. Gobert has seen every post move Jokic has to offer, and Edwards and Jaden McDaniels have chased Jamal Murray around more screens than you can count.
But in regards to these specific collections, there’s little history to go off. None of the four matchups this season featured best-on-best competition. Edwards missed the first meeting, and Denver was without multiple rotational pieces in each of the final three duels.
Kyle Anderson was one of Minnesota’s best defensive answers for Jokic two years ago. He wasn’t a member of the Wolves for any of this season’s four matchups, three of which went the way of Denver.
The Nuggets’ coaching staff was revamped over the offseason, with David Adelman just crossing the one-year mark as the team’s head coach.
Minnesota certainly has different defensive tactics to deploy against Jokic that have worked – relatively, when speaking about the best player in the world – but who’s to say they’ll still bear any effectiveness given the Nuggets’ new roster construction?
Minnesota’s speed and athleticism has long been its best weapon against the Nuggets. Perhaps the additions to the rotation of Hyland and Dosunmu will only exacerbate those issues for Denver, and Minnesota will be able to run all over the Nuggets.
There’s not enough pudding to provide any proof. Not with these iterations of Minnesota and Denver – two teams with a few similar star characters from years past, but different supporting actors and overall makeup.
Yes, the Wolves and Nuggets are rivals – in the same way Duke and North Carolina are in the college game. That doesn’t mean one year’s result teaches you anything about what’s to come next.
This series will be referred to as the third meeting, the rubber match, the trilogy. But, in reality, it’s a brand-new ball game.
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