Minnesota Timberwolves 1st Round Playoff Matchup Set

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Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

On Sunday night the Minnesota Timberwolves took the court against the New Orleans Pelicans. Chris Finch was without the vast majority of his regular rotation as they rested for the playoffs, since the results had no effect on playoff positioning.

Too bad Kevin Garnett — in his return to Target Center — couldn’t suit up. Of course, against a tanking pels team, the Timberwolves reserves didn’t even need him, as they pulled out a 132-126 win, officially finishing their season 49-33 — the exact same final record they had last season.

Meanwhile, both Minnesota’s potential first round opponents — the Los Angeles Lakers (vs Jazz) and Denver Nuggets (vs Spurs) — were jockeying for the No. 3 seed in the West, all the way to the very end of games 82.

Denver Nuggets to host Minnesota Timberwolves

Both the Lakers and Nuggets won their final games of the season, meaning the Wolves get a best-of-seven series against Denver — who enters the postseason on a 12-game winning streak.

Last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves finished in the spot– 6th in the Western Conference. They used last year’s 6-seed to knock off the 3-seed Lakers, then Golden State Warriors, before eventually falling to the NBA Champion Oklahoma City Thunder, in the Western Conference finals.

This time around, the Timberwolves will face a much tougher road. On Saturday, they will tip-off round one in Denver. The two teams haven’t met in the playoffs since their electric seven-game series in 2024 — which the Wolves came out victorious.

Now, Minnesota and the other six West playoff teams, will watch the the play-in tournament dictate the final two teams from each conference. The Wolves and Nuggets will play game one on Saturday, April 18 at 2:30 pm CDT.

MN Timberwolves tale of the tape

The MN Timberwolves went just 1-3 against the Denver Nuggets this season, including an overtime loss. Their lone victory vs the Nuggets this season came on the road (March 1).

This is a different Nuggets team than Minnesota faced last time in the playoffs. Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon remain on roster. But their cast of contributors are now Cam Johnson, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, and Tim Hardaway Jr.

“It was never going to be up to us. You know we’ll go anywhere and 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.”

Chris Finch

The Wolves look different too. No longer is Karl-Anthony Towns the running mate of Anthony Edwards. Rudy Gobert remains, but it’s Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and Ayo Dosunmu that will be tasked with helping the superstar get out of the first round.

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