The two-time MVP of the Denver Nuggets, center Nikola Jokic, and all-star shooting guard Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves have quite different perspectives on their teams’ Wednesday night game.
There’s a good reason why Jokic and Edwards disagree on how big of a deal the late-season matchup is.
Though Jokic and the Nuggets have made it to the postseason five straight times and won their first title last summer, Edwards’ young career with the Timberwolves has not included any postseason triumphs.
The 2020–21 rookie class of the former first overall pick saw Minnesota go just 23–49, but he has since helped guide the club to back-to-back postseason berths for the first time since 2004. There were two postseason droughts for the Timberwolves: one from 2005–2017 and the other from 2019–2021.
The seventh-seeded Timberwolves lost the set in six games despite winning Game 1 of their 2022 opening-round series against the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies. They were seeded eighth going into the playoffs last spring and lost in five games to the eventual champion Nuggets.
As of Wednesday, Minnesota and Denver are tied atop the Western Conference standings at 55-24. With three games remaining in the regular season, the Nuggets and Timberwolves are certain of a top-three playoff slot, with only the Oklahoma City Thunder (54-25) standing in their way.
In their head-to-head meetings this season, Minnesota leads 2-1 and presently controls the tiebreaker. With two games remaining, a win on Wednesday would put them almost three games ahead of the No. 1 seed.
Karl-Anthony Towns, the All-Star big man for the Timberwolves, may be back from his torn left meniscus against the Nuggets; he is expected to return by the conclusion of the regular season, at the very least.
To wrap up the season, Minnesota will host the Phoenix Suns and Atlanta Hawks on Friday and Sunday. They will tie the franchise record of 58 wins achieved during the 2003–04 season and secure the top spot if they win all three games.
That season, the Timberwolves proceeded to the Western Conference Finals, the only other time they have moved past the first round of the playoffs, led by MVP big man Kevin Garnett.
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