On Friday night, the Denver Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-111 to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series.
Two teams meet again on Sunday in Minneapolis, where Denver will look to close them out. In Minneapolis, at the Target Center, the game will start at 9:30 p.m. EDT.
Injury Update Denver Nuggets – Minnesota Timberwolves
The Denver Nuggets are the top seed in the Western Conference, but no one thinks they can make the finals.
Maybe not no one, but most people think the Suns, Lakers, or Warriors, with Denver further down the list.
However, they have just totally crushed a decent Timberwolves squad in this series to take a 3-0 lead. They capped it off by destroying Minnesota on the road in Game 3 on Friday, winning 120-111.
“We didn’t want to give them life,” said the two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, reported ESPN. “We wanted to be the aggressor. We wanted to punch them first.”
And punch they did, notably Jokic, who had a triple double with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists, while Jamal Murray chipped in with 18 points and 9 assists.
Jokic put up another triple-double, bringing the Nuggets to within one game of progressing to the second round of the playoffs. Despite facing Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, Jokic has been able to establish his domination in the series.
The two teams will square off again today, with the Nuggets hoping to wrap things up before meeting the Clippers or Suns in the following round.
Denver is in good shape, with no important players out.
Few expected the Timberwolves to win this series against the top-seeded Nuggets as the 8th seed, who had to win a play-in game to get here.
With three all-star players in Rudy Gobert, Anthony Edwards, and Karl-Anthony Towns, many thought they’d have a punchers chance of making things entertaining.
But they lost any hope of making this intriguing with a 120-111 loss at home on Friday. For all intents and purposes, this game is already done, with a score of 3-0.
Edwards had the most points with 36, while Towns had 27. Gobert finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Gobert said: “For us as a team, we’ve got to work on paying attention to details. And it’s maturity. It comes with time, but it comes with building the right habits,”
“Not to make any excuses, but those habits don’t happen overnight. And for us, even if we’re losing tonight, I’ve really enjoyed for us to go through that right now and understand the difference, not in talent, but in those habits between us and Denver.”
For injury, Jaylen Nowell (knee) and Josh Minott (ankle) are both listed as questionable for Sunday’s Game 4 against the Nuggets.
Nowell has played through the injury in the last three games, averaging 4.7 points and 1.0 assists in 16.7 minutes. With no setbacks, he should be able to play through the injury again on Sunday.
Despite being elevated to available, Minott did not play in Game 3. Even if his ankle ailment does not keep him out of Game 4, he is unlikely to see much playing time.
Injury Report Timberwolves:
| PLAYER | INJURY | STATUS |
| Jaylen Nowell | Knee | Game Time Decision |
| Josh Minott | Ankle | Game Time Decision |
| Jaden McDaniels | Hand | Expected to be out until at least Apr 30 |
| Naz Reid | Wrist | Expected to be out until at least May 12 |
Injury Report Nuggets:
| PLAYER | INJURY | STATUS |
| Collin Gillespie | Lower Leg | Out for the season |
