In case you didn’t notice, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets are locked in an eternal struggle for the heart and soul of the middle class of the Western Conference title contenders.
They entered Friday’s game, which the Wolves won 113-96, tied 1-1 in their first-round series after Minnesota’s 19-point comeback at Ball Arena in Game 2. In their last 30 meetings since the start of the 2022-23 season, the Wolves and Nuggets are dead even with 15 wins apiece. These teams hate each other. Jaden McDaniels called the entire Nuggets roster “bad defenders” after Game 2, and the Nuggets took that extremely personally.
The Wolves routed Denver in Game 3. Game 4 in Minneapolis is certain to be entertaining. So, what makes these mortal enemies perfect foils for each other?
At a glance, the casual observer would assume the Nuggets were the far superior team over the last four seasons. Denver ran through the 2023 NBA playoffs on the way to the first championship in franchise history. They kicked things off by beating the Wolves 4-1 in the first round. Scholars maintain (and some Nuggets said out loud) that the Wolves gave them the toughest time on their way to a title. They followed up the title with 57 wins in 2023-24 while snagging the 2-seed on the last day of the regular season.
The Nuggets beat the Lakers in five games in the first round. Then the Wolves snatched Denver’s soul in a seven-game slugfest in the second. They fired Michael Malone with three games left in the season. David Adelman took over and finished the regular season out 3-0 to get to 50 wins and the 4-seed. They beat the LA Clippers in seven games in Round 1 before bowing out to the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a hard-fought seven-game series in Round 2. This year, the Nuggets once again won 54 games and earned the three seed and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
During this period, Nikola Jokic astonishingly only won one of his three MVP awards. He finished second, first, and second, and will likely finish second behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander again this season. Over the last four seasons, Jokic has averaged 27 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.9 assists per game. Jamal Murray became an All-Star and an All-NBA caliber player after injuries forced him to miss the entire previous season. The Nuggets asserted themselves as one of the premier franchises of this decade.
At the same time, the Timberwolves have reignited the franchise’s once-dormant competitive fire. Led by Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and the first season of Rudy Gobert, the Wolves made the playoffs for a second consecutive season in 2022-23. They lost in five games to the Nuggets, who won the 2023 NBA title. A year later, the Wolves won 56 games, fueled by the league’s top defense. Edwards became a superstar. Towns suppressed the male urge to do the dumbest thing possible at any given moment. And Rudy Gobert won his fourth DPOY.
They thrashed the Phoenix Suns in a Round 1 sweep and toppled the Nuggets in an instant classic, seven-game Round 2 series. Things fell apart in the West Finals. Luka Doncic hit the game-winner over Gobert, and they lost in five games. Tim Connelly made a monumental move days before the 2024-25 season started, trading KAT to the Knicks for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a pick that became Joan Beringer.
Things took a minute to coalesce. They won only 49 games and had to fight to avoid the play-in. Once in the playoffs, Minnesota beat the Lakers and Golden State Warriors into submission before another five-game loss in the West Finals, this time to the Thunder. They ran things back this year with the same result, 49 wins and the sixth seed.
The Nuggets have been 214-114 over the last four years, won a championship, and employ the best player of his era. The Wolves are 196-132, made two West Finals, and have a lot more question marks scattered around the roster alongside Anthony Edwards.
So why have these two teams played to a dead heat?
The teams have completely different styles of play. The Nuggets rely on great offense, while the Timberwolves hang their success on defense. From 2022-23 through this regular season, the Nuggets posted the 5th, 5th, 4th, and 1st-best offenses in the NBA, while the Wolves’ offense ranked 23rd, 17th, 8th, and 13th in the same span. While Minnesota’s defense ranked 10th, 1st, 6th, and 8th over the last four years, and Denver’s defense lagged behind at 15th, 8th, 21st, and 21st, respectively.
When those styles clash, the Wolves have the upper hand in the regular season. They’re 9-7 against Denver in the regular season over the past four seasons. Their offensive rating against the Nuggets in that span is 118 points per 100 possessions compared to Denver’s offensive rating of 113.5. That flips slightly in the playoff meetings, where the Nuggets have the slight upper hand with an 8-6 record against the Timberwolves and an offensive rating of 112 to Minnesota’s 110.3.
Minnesota has slowed down Nikola Jokic in the first two games of this year’s series, but the Joker normally dominates the Wolves in the postseason. He averaged 26.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, and nine assists in their first playoff meeting in 2023. He averaged 29/11.4/7.9 in seven games in 2024, and is down to 24.5/14/9.5 across the first two games of this series.
When the Nuggets struggle against the Wolves in the playoffs, it’s because Minnesota is best equipped to shut down Jamal Murray. Murray averaged just 18.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.4 assists during Minnesota’s 2024 seven-game win. That’s a far cry from his career playoff averages of 23.9/4.9/6. He struggled to shake the suffocating defense of Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards. Murray is your classic playoff riser, but has been hit or miss against the Wolves in the postseason.
Anthony Edwards is another playoff riser who doesn’t shy away when he’s matched up against the Nuggets. Where the Wolves struggle is that the Nuggets have a knack for making Minnesota rely far too heavily on its superstar. Ant’s running mates from KAT to Julius Randle have struggled in the playoffs against Denver.
Denver exposed Towns in 2023 when they swarmed him, causing him to average just 18.2 points per game and shoot 6-24 from three in the five-game series. Towns limited his bone-headed plays in 2024, but still played below his usual regular-season standard. This year, Julius Randle stunk in Game 1 in Denver before rebounding with 24 points, nine rebounds, and six assists in Game 2.
The ’80s had Lakers-Celtics. The ’90s were the Bulls vs. everybody. The Lakers and Spurs traded blows in the 2000s. And in the 2010s, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers played Steph Curry and the Warriors in four straight finals. Wolves-Nuggets isn’t on that level yet, but it’s one of the best rivalries the NBA has going.
