NBA: Denver Nuggets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Denver Nuggets have no time to recover following last night’s game as they travel to Minnesota to face the Timberwolves. The Nuggets beat the Celtics last night at home, with Nikola Jokic having another top performance. This allowed them to keep the top seed in the West and also showed that the Nuggets can beat the top teams in the league without problems. Cs have to be respected, as they have the best record in the league. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves are on a slump, losing game after game, and looking incredibly bad.

Preview

Denver Nuggets (24-12, -145) opened the game furiously, scoring 37 points in the opening quarter while allowing 28. After that, Mike Malone’s boys kept that distance, increasing it slightly and eventually winning 123-111. It was the game of the night and didn’t disappoint.

The Nuggets stopped Boston from downtown, making just nine of 33 three-point shots. Meanwhile, the hosts were more than good, hitting 17 of their 30 long-distance attempts. Overall, the Nuggets were shooting from the field 57%, but couldn’t impose dominance under the rim. The Celtics had a 41-36 edge in boards and 60-46 with scoring from the paint.

Jokic scored 30 buckets with 12 boards and assists, adding another triple-double to his tally. Bruce Brown covered up Jamal Murray’s absence, scoring 21 points, while Michael Porter Jr. had 19 and four boards. Aaron Gordon was in the all-around mood, 18 points, seven assists, and six boards, and Bones Hyland added 17 off the bench.

As for the Minnesota Timberwolves (16-21, +125) we don’t have anything positive to say about the recent displays. Even before Karl-Anthony Towns picked up an injury, the T-Wolves began oscillating following a solid start.

Right now, Minnesota has six losses in a row. Some of them were expected because the Wolves had a tour through the East, with them visiting the Celtics, Heat, and the Bucks, plus, had to meet the Pelicans in New Orleans. However, the most recent defeat to the Pistons in Minnesota, 116-104, wasn’t expected.

The Pistons blew away the Timberwolves under the rim, having 52 boards while allowing the hosts to collect 39. Anthony Edwards scored 30 points with seven boards, while D’Angelo Russell scored 25 with five boards, and that was pretty much it from them.

Head to Head Games

This will be the first of four meetings between the Nuggets and the T-Wolves this year. Last year, we saw them squaring off also on four occasions, and the Timberwolves posted three victories (all in a row), two at the Mile high. Previously, the Nuggets had 12 consecutive wins over the franchise from Minnesota, which was one of the longest streaks in the NBA at the moment.

Prediction

We are going with the Nuggets here, despite them playing on the second of back-to-back nights following a very tough challenge. If they want to win the NBA title, such situations won’t be an alibi for the Nuggets, who are against the shaken rivals. The T-Wolves can’t regroup since KAT’s Achilles tear, and the Nuggets must use all the rivals’ problems. Right now, the odds are at -145, and that’s just fine for us.

Pick: Denver Nuggets win -145