Timberwolves at Nuggets
THE STORY: The Denver Nuggets are preparing themselves for what they hope will be a deep playoff run this spring. The Minnesota Timberwolves are preparing for their offseason by losing as much as they possibly can as the ping pong balls dance in the eyes of the front office. The Nuggets will be looking to hand the Timberwolves their 13th straight defeat when the teams meet in Denver on Saturday.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ATL.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (48-31): Denver is looking pretty solidly like the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference while the Oklahoma City Thunder are currently in the No. 4 spot, meaning the two teams would match up with each other in the first round of the playoffs. The Nuggets and Thunder put on a preview of that on Friday night, with Oklahoma City easily pushing past Denver, 104-89. The Nuggets shot just 40.3 percent from the floor, including 5 of 18 from beyond the arc, and turned the ball over 18 times. It is entirely possible that Denver did not go all out in the contest, choosing instead to keep a few tricks in the bag for the playoffs. Nene led the way for the Nuggets with 18 points and nine rebounds while Danilo Gallinari added 17 and nine and Kenyon Martin chipped in 14 and 13.
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (17-62): The season is coming to a merciful end for Minnesota, which is playing as though summer began a month ago. The main reason for continuing to watch the team - Kevin Love’s rise to stardom - has been taken away five times in the last seven games due to a nagging injury and the rest of the team is playing like they are trying to win jobs for next season rather than win games this season. The Timberwolves’ 12-game skid has dropped them into a tie with the Cleveland Cavaliers (17-62) for the worst record in the NBA. The lower finisher gets the most ping pong balls in the NBA draft lottery next month. Their latest setback was a 108-98 home loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday. Michael Beasley scored 24 points and Anthony Randolph add 19 for Minnesota while Love sat out.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Wilson Chandler struggled the most on Friday for the Nuggets, going 1 of 10 from the floor. He is 12 of 40 over the last four games. Randolph has put up 20 and 19 points in back-to-back games after averaging 5.8 in the previous four for the Timberwolves.
KEY STATISTIC: 3-point field goal percentage. The one thing the Timberwolves have done well lately is shoot from beyond the arc, where they have connected at a 40.2 percent clip over the last five games. Denver has been strong defensively all around but especially on the perimeter, where they held opponents under 30 percent over the last five.
SEASON SERIES: The Nuggets have taken all three meetings this season. The latest was a 113-100 decision in Minnesota on Feb. 5 in which the since-departed Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups combined for 46 points. Denver has taken the last five and nine of the last 10 in the series.
KEY INJURIES: MINNESOTA: F Kevin Love (groin); C Darko Milicic (ankle); G Sebastian Telfair (flu). DENVER: G Arron Afflalo (hamstring); F Chris Anderson (ankle); C Timofey Mozgov (knee).
LAST WORD: “The things we’re doing are the same, exact things over and over,” Timberwolves forward Anthony Tolliver said. “ That’s what’s so frustrating. If I saw improvement, game by game, at least you’d know we were going in the right direction. But I don’t think we’re really going anywhere right now.”