Timberwolves to be without key players for Tuesday’s game against Nuggets
Apr 1, 2025, 10:35 AM | Updated: 10:39 am
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been the Denver Nuggets’ kryptonite recently. Minnesota has won all three matchups this season after beating Denver in seven games last season in the Western Conference Semifinals. They have brought the physicality and intensity against Denver in the matchups, and the Nuggets have not been able to match it.
Heading into Tuesday’s game, the injury report for the Wolves looks fairly clean (only rookie guard Terrance Shannon Jr. is out), but Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo will not be playing due to suspensions. In Minnesota’s game against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, a massive scuffle took place between the two sides.
A fight breaks out between the Pistons and Timberwolves
Donte DiVincenzo, Naz Reid, Ron Holland, Isaiah Stewart, Marcus Sasser, Pistons HC J. B. Bickerstaff and Wolves assistant coach Pablo Prigioni were all ejected pic.twitter.com/TJA3OczOxB
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 31, 2025
Reid is third on the Wolves in scoring with DiVincenzo is fifth. The two have brought size and physicality on the defense end of the floor against Denver this season, so their absence will be greatly missed.
This news doesn’t mean that the Nuggets are guaranteed a victory over their new-found rival. The Wolves have the Nuggets number, and head coach Michael Malone knows that. He wants his team to come out and match the energy of Minnesota.
“They’ve approached this game like it’s a rivalry, and I think we’ve approached these games like it’s just another game sometimes,” Malone said at practice Monday.
The Nuggets haven’t announced their full injury report for Tuesday’s game, but Nikola Jokic and Christian Braun are probable. Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray are questionable.
Tuesday will be the final chance for Denver to get on the board against Minnesota in the regular season series. There is still a good chance that the two foes could meet in the first round of the NBA playoffs, but Denver’s focus is on tonight instead of the future.
