Timberwolves ‘Now in the Driving Seat’ Against Nuggets

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been hugely impressive throughout the 2023-24 NBA playoffs thus far, with their wealth of both offensive and defensive weapons, proving virtually too much for their opposition to handle, even the reigning champions, the Denver Nuggets.

Having handed the Nuggets two consecutive losses at home, league insider Mark Medina can’t help but feel that the Timberwolves are halfway to the Western Conference Finals.

Timberwolves Hunting Down the Pack

Seeking to reach the Western Conference Finals for first time in 20 years

Put quite simply, Minnesota is a legitimate championship-contending team, and they have been throughout the majority of the 2023-24 campaign.

Having progressed through the first-round of the playoffs with ease after sweeping the Phoenix Suns and their star-powered big three of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, it was thought that their next opponents, the Denver Nuggets, would prove to be a much, much tougher test of where the Timberwolves were at.

The reigning champions had looked on-course to repeat as title winners for much of the season, with star center Nikola Jokić enjoying yet another dominant season averaging 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists at 58/36/82 shooting splits, which saw him awarded as the recipient of his third Kia NBA MVP award in just four seasons.

But, with two award winners of their own, with Naz Reid winning the Sixth Man of the Year, and Rudy Gobert tying NBA history by picking up his fourth Defensive Player of the Year title, as well as their two franchise stars, Karl-Anthony Towns, and arguably the next face of the league in Anthony Edwards, it was thought that they could match the talent that the Nuggets had to offer.

However, through the first two games of the blockbuster series, one team appears to be no match for the other, and it is the Timberwolves who have the upper hand, looking dominant on almost all fronts, which has exposed the Nuggets’ flaws along the way.

In their blowout 106-80 win over the Nuggets in game two, their suffocating defense was largely overshadowed by an incident involving Denver point-guard, Jamal Murray, who signaled money gestures, something Gobert had done in the regular season which he was subsequently fined $100,000 by the league for, as well as throwing both a towel, and a heat pack, the latter of which made it onto the court mid-play and could have had serious ramifications.

Murray would also be fined $100,000, though some argued he was lucky not to receive a suspension.

All in all, it highlighted the Nuggets’ reaction to things when they were not going their way – something they haven’t been used to for quite some time – and it’s fair to say that they buckled under the pressure.

Now, it seems that all the odds are in Minnesota’s favor, with the next two-game slate coming up in Minneapolis.

Timberwolves Have Shown They Can ‘Dominate’ the Nuggets

Medina felt that the Nuggets would at least level the series after their disappointing game one loss to Minnesota, which would then see them look more in control of the series. However, he had conceded that he was surprised they went down 0-2, and that the direction of the series looks very much in the hands of the surging Timberwolves.

Leaning In on Their Own Continuity

Edwards, Towns and Gobert have improved upon their team chemistry from last season

Medina has been most surprised by the Timberwolves stepping up with such dominance of late, and not faltering when the spotlight has shone solely on them.

While the Nuggets ensured that they maintained roster continuity, where possible, over the season as they continue to seek back-to-back championships, the Timberwolves have followed a similar structure by keeping the band together, even in the wake of their own adversity last season.

Having swung a blockbuster trade for defensive powerhouse Gobert prior to last season, a disappointing 2022-23 campaign, in which the Timberwolves ranked 10th in the league for defensive efficiency with a 113.1 rating, saw many doubting whether a mistake had been made, and whether the Frenchman and Towns could work in tandem together.

Fast-forward to now, though, and Minnesota finished the 2023-24 regular season as the No. 1 overall defense, with a vastly improved 108.1 defensive rating, while their team defense improved across almost all facets of the defensive dashboard, other than steals, where they averaged a meager 0.1 more steals last season than this season – hardly a cause for concern.

Thus, in hindsight, it looked as though all they needed was time to gel together to be able to operate efficiently, and to great effect, under Chris Finch’s system, with Gobert in particular now looking like the defensive pillar of the team.

Add to that the emergence of Naz Reid, who, while the recipient of the Sixth Man of the Year award, stepped up into a starting role in the absence of Towns, who went down with injury and was effective at plugging gaps when he was needed to, and Edwards once again showing he will be one of the NBA’s best players, if he’s not already, where he has surged offensively once again, averaging 25.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.3 steals on 46/36/84 shooting splits during the regular season, the Timberwolves have leaned in on their continuity in this stretch of dominance over some of the league’s best teams.

Throughout their stellar post-season run, as a team, they have suffocated the opposition on defense, currently posting a 105.5 defensive rating, the fourth-best mark in the playoffs so far, with only their Western rivals, the Oklahoma City Thunder (99.4), and the Boston Celtics (104.8) the only other teams remaining in the playoffs with a better defensive efficiency.

Nonetheless, Minnesota’s number one ranked offense – tied with the Indiana Pacers (120.8 rating) – sees them come out on top in overall efficiency, outscoring their opponents by, on average, 15.3 points per 100 possessions.

However, in the Nuggets series, their overall efficiency is greater, whereby they have outscored the reigning champions by 18.0 points per 100 possessions.

As a result, the Timberwolves look in control of the series, and with two home games to come, they could be eyeing the chance to seal the series win at home, though the Nuggets cannot be ruled out from staging a comeback just yet.

All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.

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