Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets
Date: December 25th, 2025
Time: 9:30 PM CST
Location: Ball Arena
Television Coverage: ABC, ESPN
Radio Coverage: Wolves App, iHeart Radio

The Minnesota Timberwolves delivered some early holiday cheer to the Target Center crowd on Tuesday evening, notching their first victory over Karl-Anthony Towns since the legendary fall-2024 trade. Yes, it came against a Knicks team missing Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, and half their rotation. And yes, it was a little surreal watching KAT torch his old team for 40 points while Wolves fans were forced to clap politely through clenched teeth. But context aside, the Wolves took care of business, beat a +.500 team, and continued to quietly stack real wins.

It wasn’t clean, because, let’s face it, it’s never clean with this team. Minnesota built a comfortable lead, then immediately got comfortable. New York ripped off two 10-0 runs as well as a 17-3 run during the course of the game. During the third quarter the game felt like it might slip away… until Anthony Edwards woke up and decided he wasn’t interested in that storyline. Ant matched KAT nearly bucket for bucket, finishing with 38, and then Julius Randle finally arrived in the fourth quarter like the cavalry, pouring in 17 points, including 15 straight Wolves points at one stretch. On a night when Towns was missing his co-star, Minnesota’s own duo, Edwards and Randle, closed the door.

That win capped off something much bigger: the Wolves have now gone 3-0 in this brutal holiday homestand against the Thunder, Bucks, and Knicks. One game of this Christmas Week gauntlet remains. And it happens to be one of the biggest regular-season games this franchise will play all year.

Christmas Night.
In Denver.
Against Nikola Jokic.

Minnesota’s surge has vaulted them into fifth place, leapfrogging Houston, with the Lakers barely ahead. A win in Denver puts the Wolves within half a game of the Nuggets for third in the West, which is a stunning place to be considering the chaos of the first 30 games: Ant’s hamstring injury, multiple blown games, and long stretches where this team looked like it was trying to solve calculus without knowing multiplication.

The Wolves dominated this matchup last season, pulling off a four-game season sweep. But 2025-26 has flipped the script: Denver has already beaten Minnesota twice at Target Center. If the Wolves want to restore balance, they’ll need to do something they’ve proven they can do — win in Mile High.

With the entire league watching, the Wolves have a chance to deliver a real contender’s statement.

1. Throw Everything at Jokic — And Then Throw It Again

Nikola Jokic is the best player on the planet. There is no stopping him. There is only survival.

Minnesota’s formula remains the same: Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, and Julius Randle take turns leaning on him, making every touch exhausting, forcing him into facilitator mode, and controlling the glass. Denver added Jonas Valančiūnas, giving them more frontcourt depth than last year, so the Wolves’ size advantage only matters if they use it aggressively. Second-chance points cannot tilt this game.

Wear him down. Make him pass. Make the other Nuggets beat you.

2. Put Jamal Murray in a Straight Jacket

When Murray ignites, the Nuggets become terrifying. The Wolves have the personnel to prevent that.

If Jaden McDaniels can go, he’s the first option. If not, Anthony Edwards and Jaylen Clark must shoulder the responsibility. Murray cannot get comfortable. He cannot get clean looks. He cannot start that rhythmic pull-up nonsense that makes Denver impossible to deal with.

Slow Murray, and the math of this game changes immediately.

3. Value the Ball Like It’s the Last Christmas Cookie

The Wolves must play sharp, disciplined basketball: no careless passes, no lazy dribbles into traffic, no self-inflicted wounds that fuel Nuggets runs. Crisp movement, smart decisions, full commitment to winning the possession game.

This is not the night for sloppiness.

4. Keep the Shooting Rhythm Alive

After a sluggish stretch, Minnesota’s shooting finally ticked upward against New York. That momentum must continue.

This only works if the Wolves avoid ISO-ball. Make Denver rotate, use Ant and Randle’s gravity, find Naz, Donte, Jaden, and Conley in rhythm.

This offense is deadly when it flows.

5. The Duel: Ant & Randle vs. Jokic & Murray

This is what it comes down to.

Edwards and Randle just finished dismantling New York’s defense in crunch time. They must do it again, together. Not forcing shots. Not hunting hero moments. Just relentlessly attacking, creating, and letting the offense breathe.

Given the plethora of injuries that the Nuggets are dealing with, whichever duo wins this matchup likely wins the game.

Three wins down.
One left.

This is the game that transforms a hot streak into a statement.
This is the game that tells the West the Wolves are not just back — they are for real.

Time to put on the Grinch costume and ruin Denver’s evening, while giving Timberwolves Nation the gift we’ve all been waiting for.