The Nuggets are currently projected to face a familiar foe in the playoffs
Mar 25, 2025, 1:52 PM
There are just nine games left in the regular season for the Denver Nuggets, and the team looks like it’s still figuring itself out as time winds down heading into a postseason run. With great wins and poor wins alike, the Nuggets need to figure themselves out before potentially facing a team that has had their number recently.
According to Basketball Reference, Denver has a 48% chance to be the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference come playoff time (10.3% to be No. 2, 24% to be No. 4, 11.2% to be No. 5). While it’s a good sign that there’s a great chance of Denver keeping home court advantage in the first round, that comes at a cost. The team with the highest odds to be the No. 6 seed in the playoffs is the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Other possible opponents Denver could see in the first round are the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers.
Facing the Timberwolves would be bad news for Denver, especially if the team plays as inconsistently as it has over recent weeks. While Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and others shouldn’t be missing any playoffs games due to injury with their current statuses, the Nuggets haven’t been able to beat Minnesota all season.
Denver is currently 0-3 against Minnesota this season, with a fourth and final matchup scheduled for next week in Denver. The last time the Nuggets won this matchup was in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals last year in which Nikola Jokic put up a heroic effort to push his team over the hump.
Home court wouldn’t matter in this matchup either. The last place the Timberwolves are scared to play a basketball game in is Ball Arena. They won three of the four games in Denver in the playoffs last season, along with this season’s lone matchup in Denver. Even worse news for the Nuggets, three of the four games were never close, and the fourth was a blown 20-point lead in Game 7.
The story of the Denver-Minnesota matchup is always the physicality. The Wolves constantly push the Nuggets around, and the Nuggets have not shown an ability to raise their level to match the physicality. Replacing Rudy Gobert with Julius Randle has been good for the Wolves in this matchup, and head coach Michael Malone will have his hands full if this indeed ends up being the Nuggets’ opponent in the first round.
This has become a great rivalry in the league, as the two have met in the playoffs the last two seasons. While Denver got the victory in the 2023 Western Conference First Round, Minnesota punched back in 2024, and has shown in 2025 that they have plenty more punches to throw. If Denver can raise its physicality when the time comes, this could be a repeat of last year’s instant classic of a series. If not, it might look more like 2023, where one side was clearly outmatched by the other.
