'Not Ducking Anybody': Nuggets, Wolves Fear No One in Playoff Clash

All gas, no brakes. That's the mentality for the Timberwolves and Nuggets as they prepare to face each other in the NBA playoffs for the third time in four years.

Denver, by beating the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday to secure the No. 3 seed, made it clear that they're not afraid of facing the Timberwolves in a best-of-seven series.

"We know it's going to be a battle. It always is with that team. But I know this. You can't duck opponents. They didn't want to duck us; we're not ducking anybody," Nuggets head coach David Adelman said. "We have a ton of respect for them, as I know they do for us. It's going to be a hell of a series."

Minnesota head coach Chris Finch echoed that sentiment.

"It was never going to be up to us. We'll go anywhere to play anybody. We're super comfortable playing that team. They're playing really well, some of the best basketball in the league, so we've got our hands full. We'll dig into them this week and be ready to go," Finch said Sunday night.

Denver, en route to winning the championship in 2023, disposed of the Wolves in five games in the first round. Minnesota countered with a thrilling series in the 2024 conference semifinals that went the distance.

2023: Denver 4, Minnesota 1

Wolves got smoked by 29 points in Game 1.
Wolves trailed by 20 points in the second quarter and lost by nine in Game 2
Wolves trailed by 13 in the first half; Denver held them off for a 3-0 series lead
Wolves won Game 4 in overtime to stay alive
Nuggets rallied from a 27-12 first-quarter deficit to win 112-109 and clinch the series

2024: Minnesota 4, Denver 3

Wolves escaped Game 1 in Denver with a 106-99 win
Wolves hammered the Nuggets 106-80 in Game 2
Denver smoked the Wolves in Minnesota by 27 points in Game 3
Denver led by double-digits most of the game to tie the series at 2-2
Denver built an 18-point lead in the 4th quarter and won by 15
Wolves smashed the Nuggets by 45 points to force a Game 7
Wolves rallied from 20 down to win 98-90.

Do those past matchups matter?

"I don't think it's overly relevant," Finch said. "We know the heart of their team is (Nikola) Jokic, (Jamal) Murray, (Aaron) Gordon, (Christian) Braun, those guys have been together for a long, long time. The rest of the guys are kind of settled into their roles, and they've gotten healthy, so they've gotten a little bit deeper. I think that's that depth that they didn't have a few years ago, which makes them a lot more dangerous."

Denver won 12 straight games to finish the regular season. They also won three of four against Minnesota over the course of the 82-game grind, including a Christmas Night thriller that saw Jokic crush the Wolves with 56 points, 16 rebounds, and 15 assists as Denver won 142-138 in double overtime.

Denver's win streak erased the doubts caused by a rough stretch that saw them go 13-15 from Jan. 18 to March 18. Minnesota, meanwhile, will have to show up in the playoffs after going 22-19 in the second half of the season, though it's tough to accurately judge them since Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels were slowed by knee injuries, and Ayo Dosunmu wasn't 100% healthy due to a calf issue.

Just in the nick of time, it appears that Edwards, McDaniels, and Dosunmu are all good to go. Add in the fact that Terrence Shannon Jr. has returned to health and found a new gear to his game, and Minnesota might be poised to go on another deep run.

It all starts Saturday in Game 1 in Denver. It'll be the start of a crazy couple of months, and Minnesota and Denver have as good a shot as anyone in the West to reach the NBA Finals.

"The Western Conference playoffs are going to be absolutely insane," Adelman said.