The defending NBA champions will go from one tough challenge to another when the Minnesota Timberwolves come to town for Game 1 on Saturday.
No. 2-seeded Denver has been installed as an early favorite to win this second-round NBA playoff series, coming in at -230 on DraftKings, with the series spread opening at Nuggets -1.5 (-110).
No. 3-seeded Minnesota is coming off a dominant sweep of the Phoenix Suns, while the Nuggets won in five competitive games against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The price of -230 is a little surprising, considering the Nuggets were -350 favorites against the Lakers, a team they are proven far more equipped to handle.
Denver downed the Timberwolves in five games the 2023 NBA Playoffs, but during the 2024 regular season the teams split the four games, with Karl-Anthony Towns playing in just one, a 21-point victory.
When Towns is right, the Timberwolves have two big bodies to throw at Nikola Jokic, who appeared exhausted during Game 5 against the Lakers.
Anthony Davis clearly wore Jokic down during the opening-round series, and with Rudy Gobert and Towns awaiting him at the other end, the Nuggets could be looking at a tough spot to advance.
Minnesota’s starting lineup has the third-best defensive rating among playoff teams, so expect these games to be a slog, especially if the Nuggets’ jump shooting goes cold.
Sounding off other alarm bells is Jamal Murray’s calf strain mixed with an ankle injury for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope that he sustained Monday night.
Murray looked plenty healthy Monday and will have time to rest until Saturday’s Game 1, but calf injuries are sketchy; we’ve seen this go badly with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and previous examples that involved Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.
Meanwhile, we have gone this far without talking about the best or second-best player in the series, Anthony Edwards.
Edwards 31 points, 8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game with a 43.8 completion percentage on eight 3-point attempts per game against the Suns marked another step forward for one of the league’s budding stars.
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Minnesota made quick work of the Suns and should give the Nuggets all they can handle and more, as all eyes turn to one of the league’s marquee round-two series.
We’ll see if he is as ready to knock out the defending champs as he looks.
For now, expect this one to go seven at the minimum, if Minnesota doesn’t win outright.
PICK: Timberwolves series spread +1.5 (-110, DraftKings)