NBA Game of the Week: Denver Nuggets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

The 2024-25 NBA season is officially in full swing as each team has played multiple games and we get to see which teams are legit powerhouses and which teams are not going to be a factor.

Two teams that were absolute juggernauts in the 2023-24 season within the Western Conference will be going head-to-head this Friday night.

The Minnesota Timberwolves will be at home this week when they take on the Denver Nuggets in a rematch of this year's Conference Semi-Final.

The Timberwolves pulled off what could be considered an upset as the Nuggets were the defending NBA champions at that moment in time and eliminated them from the playoffs in a series that went 4-3.

Minnesota has a chip on their shoulder this season after falling short to the Dallas Mavericks in the Conference Finals causing them to miss out on the NBA Finals.

During this past offseason, both Anthony Edwards and Nikola Jokic were still playing basketball representing their respective countries in the 2024 Olympics.

Team USA would come out on top with their eight straight gold medal, while Serbia achieved a bronze medal.

Since then, their respective teams have changed quite a bit. The Timberwolves questionably traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks and in return received Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

Denver would acquire the 17-year veteran Russel Westbrook with a two-year deal worth 6.8 million dollars in hopes that he would help get the team back to the NBA Finals.

Westbrook was not looking like a good acquisition in his first three games as he only managed to put up 17 points in total. In the Nuggets most recent game with the Brooklyn Nets however, he managed to get 22 points on the board.

While Jokic has been putting up numbers for Denver with 40 point games against the Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers, the rest of the team has struggled to produce desired results.

As impressive of a player Jokic has been within the first few games, the rest of the Nuggets will have to step up their game in order to get a victory over the Timberwolves.

The Nuggets have won two back-to-back games during the overtime period after tying the games with seconds left on the clock.

Despite losing an impact player such as Towns, Minnesota hasn’t missed a beat with Randle proving to be a great addition to the team with an average of 24.3 points per game.

Edwards has continued to be the standard bearer of his team by putting up an average of 27.7 points per game, with the goal to bring his team back into a position where they can make the playoffs again.

In what has the potential to be a competitive game between former NBA champions and a team that came so close to reaching the NBA Finals in the last year, this will definitely be a must-watch game.

With both teams coming into this game with a record of 2-2, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

The Nuggets will be looking to not only gain some revenge for last season, but continue to pick up momentum on the road. The Timberwolves on the other hand are looking to shut down Denver once more.

Hudson Hvizdak is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email hph5358@psu.edu.