The Western Conference’s best goes for the sweep Sunday night as the Denver Nuggets (3-0) take on the Minnesota Timberwolves (0-3). The Timberwolves will host this one at the Target Center, with tipoff scheduled for 9:30 pm ET.
Denver is the favorite in this one despite playing on the road. They are -164 to win, while the Timberwolves’ moneyline sits at +138. The spread features Minnesota as 3.5-point underdogs (-110), and the over/under for total points is 225 (-110).
Nuggets Try To Finish This One In Four
With their 120-111 win in Game 3 on Friday, the Denver Nuggets can close out this series with a win on Sunday.
They will try not to waste time as they would love to finish it Sunday in order to get rest ahead of their next series.
In Friday’s win, Nikola Jokic was the star of the show with his triple-double. In 38 minutes, he finished with 20 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds.
Other contributors in the victory included Michael Porter Jr (25 points, nine rebounds), Jamal Murray (18 points, nine assists), Aaron Gordon (14 points, seven rebounds), and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (14 points).
On the season, the Nuggets rank 11th in scoring, averaging 115.8 points per game (117 over their last three). On the defensive end, Denver ranks eighth as they are allowing opponents an average of 112.1 points per game (101.3 over their last three contests).
Timberwolves Hoping To Push Series Back To Denver
After fighting through the NBA Play-In Tournament to get into the playoffs, the Minnesota Timberwolves would certainly love to avoid getting swept in the first round. While a full comeback is unlikely, Minnesota will at least try to get this series back to Denver for a Game 5.
In their Game 3 loss, Anthony Edwards had a sensational night. He had a game-high 36 points, while also adding seven rebounds and five assists.
Karl-Anthony Towns (27 points, seven rebounds), Rudy Gobert (18 points, 10 rebounds), and Michael Conley Jr (12 points, five assists) were the other Timberwolves who finished in double digit scoring.
The Timberwolves rank 18th in the NBA in scoring defense. On the year, they are allowing opponents 115.5 points per game (114.7 at home). In terms of scoring, they rank 13th overall, averaging 115.2 points per game.
Take Denver To Win And Cover
The Nuggets come into this one having gone 5-1 against the spread in their last six games and 5-2 against the spread in their last seven road contests. In their last six games against Minnesota, they are 5-1 overall.
As for the Timberwolves, they are 1-4 in their last five and 3-8 against the spread in their last 11 home games. In their last 10 games against Western Conference opponents, they are just 3-7.
While Denver has prevailed in each of the first three games, the Timberwolves have played them tough. Still, with a seemingly insurmountable hill to climb to win the series, it wouldn’t be shocking if this series is finished by the end of the night Sunday.
Take Denver to both win and cover the 3.5-point spread (-110) in this one.
