Why the Timberwolves Might Be In Serious Trouble Against Denver

If Anthony Edwards looks healthy and the Wolves steal Game 2 in Denver, hope will be restored. If not, it'll be time to hit the panic button.

Apr 18, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) drives to the basket against Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon (32) during the first half in game one of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Trailing 1-0 in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, the Minnesota Timberwolves will be desperate for a win in Game 2 on Monday night. While Anthony Edwards and the rest of the Wolves are confident that they can even the series before returning to Minneapolis for Games 3 and 4, there is reason to be extremely concerned about their chances.

In Game 1, Minnesota blew a 12-point lead and trailed by as many as 15 points during a disastrous third quarter. While the biggest concern going forward is clearly the health of Anthony Edwards, who labored through a knee injury that kept him out of a bunch of games in March through the end of the regular season, there's a critical statistic that could leave Minnesota feeling raw, like a 50 mph wind on human flesh in the middle of January.

Denver shot 1 of 17 from three-point range in the second half and still turned a tie game at the half into a 15-point cushion late in the third quarter. The odds of them being ice-cold from three again are low, especially since they led the NBA as a 39.6% three-point shooting team during the regular season.

Another mind-bending stat is that the Nuggets shot 28% or worse from three eight times during the regular season, and they lost seven of those eight games. In Game 1, they shot 27.8% from three and won.

On the flip side, it's probably not very likely that Denver crushes Minnesota at the free-throw line again. In Game 1, the Nuggets were 30 of 33 at the charity stripe, while the Wolves made 14 of 19 free throws.

Jamal Murray probably won't get 16 free throws (he made all of them). But Nikola Jokic will probably get more than one free throw, considering he averaged 7.4 free-throw attempts per game during the regular season.

It's almost as easy to argue that Edwards will shoot better than he did in Game 1 (7 of 19) and score more than 22 points, but with his knee injury keeping him questionable (right knee injury maintenance) on the injury report, there's reason to fear that he won't be physically capable of being the top-five player that he is.

Minnesota's goal in Game 2 should be to get more out of its big scorers. Edwards will do what he can, but the healthy guys — Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid (his shoulder is bugging him) — have to fill it up. Randle had just 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting, while McDaniels shot 6 of 14, and Reid finished with five points in a meager 17 minutes off the bench.

We'll conclude this story with a fun fact about Denver: They're 1-4 in their last five Game 2s.