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Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets
Date: March 1st, 2026
Time: 2:30 PM CST
Location: Ball Arena
Television Coverage: ABC
Radio Coverage: Wolves App, iHeart Radio
After a relatively mundane month of February, the kind where the Timberwolves looked like they were physically present but spiritually on a beach somewhere, March is kicking the door down with a steel chair.
This is the month where the standings stop being a fun little scoreboard and start feeling like a knife fight. March is the month where you look up and realize you have 20-something games left and every dumb January faceplant is now sitting in the corner like a credit card bill you ignored.
And it starts Sunday afternoon with the Denver Nuggets. National TV. Two conference heavyweights. Two franchises that have spent the last few years taking turns trying to rip each other’s souls out in the playoffs. Anthony Edwards versus Nikola Jokic.
This is more than just a standings game. It’s a pride game. It’s the type of game where Wolves fans will either spend the rest of Sunday walking around the house like they’re ten feet tall… or staring at the wall trying to remember why they chose this life.
The Wolves have been building toward this moment. They survived the first two stops of this road trip against the Blazers and Clippers, even though both of those wins were more stressful than they had any right to be. But they won. They banked the wins. And now they arrive at the prizefight. They get to stare straight at the Nuggets and say: We’re coming for your spot.
Denver is vulnerable in a way that makes this feel even bigger. Jokic has missed time this year. Aaron Gordon, one of most underappreciated “essential” players in the league, has been sidelined with a hamstring. He might be back Sunday, but even if he plays, he’s almost certainly not going to be peak Gordon. Denver’s had some uneven weeks. They’ve felt human.
The problem, of course, is that their version of “human” is still: Nikola Jokic sauntering into a triple-double like it’s his morning coffee order. The Wolves know that better than anyone, because Denver has taken all three meetings this season. Their most recent victory was Christmas Day, when the Nuggets built a commanding lead, the Wolves summoned that 2024 Game 7 comeback energy, Ant hit yet another clutch shot to force overtime… and then Denver still walked away with the win like the villain in a movie who gets shot and keeps walking.
This is Minnesota’s final chance to avoid the regular-season sweep. It’s also their chance to leapfrog Denver in the standings and finally stop spending the entire season looking up at them like the Nuggets are some mountain peak the Wolves can’t quite climb.
#1: Play Team Defense Like It’s 2024 Again
The Wolves didn’t beat Denver in that 2024 playoff series because they had one magic trick. They beat them because they played connected defense with five guys moving like a single organism. That version of Minnesota has shown up this season… in brief flashes. Most notably in their last game against OKC, when they swarmed the champs like they’d been personally insulted.
“In flashes” doesn’t work against Denver. If you help lazily, Jokic finds the open guy. If you ball-watch, Murray’s got a dagger in your chest before you realize he’s open. If you rotate late, you’re giving up layups and corner threes all afternoon.
This starts on the perimeter, where the Wolves guards need to put Jamal Murray in a straight jacket keep him from going on one of his patented heaters. They need to rotate with purpose and prevent Jokic from setting up his teammates with open threes and easy cuts. The guards have to actually contain dribble penetration so Rudy isn’t living in emergency mode.
And then it ends with Rudy. Which brings us to…
#2: You Can’t Stop Jokic, But You Can Make Him Miserable
There’s no stopping Jokic. He’s the best player on the planet for a reason. You survive him. You limit the damage. You pick your poison and hope the poison is only mildly lethal.
Minnesota has done this before. The blueprint is still sitting right there in the 2024 playoff tape. It starts with Rudy Gobert being Rudy Gobert, making the paint feel crowded and annoying. Jokic wants to dictate where you stand and what you do. Rudy has to resist that gravity.
And then you throw bodies at him. Julius Randle has to use his size like a bounce He’s not going to out-skill Jokic, but he can out-physical him at moments. Naz Reid needs to bring help as the second big, and use his ability to launch from deep and drive to space the floor to keep Jokic uncomfortable on defense.
The goal isn’t to hold Jokic to 14 points. The goal is to make him work, make him feel every possession, and most importantly, prevent him from going nuclear like he did on Christmas. Because once Jokic hits that mode where he’s scoring, assisting, and controlling the universe, it may as well be “game over”.
#3: The Ball Has to Move, and the Shots Have to Drop
Thursday night in LA was a slog. The Wolves offense looked like it was trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube while wearing oven mitts. Shots rimmed out, possessions died, and everything got sticky.
Sticky offense against Denver is how you lose by 12 and spend the fourth quarter doing math like, “If we just hit three straight threes and get two stops and Jokic misses twice…“
Minnesota’s best version is when the offense has flow with Ant and Randle as scorers and facilitators, allowing shooters to get clean looks in rhythm. It keeps their teammates engaged, cutting and moving with purpose instead of standing around watching hero ball.
If Ant and Julius turn into black holes, they’re playing into Denver’s hands. Denver wants the Wolves to make it a two-man show. They want predictable. The Wolves have to play like a five-headed monster. They have too many weapons to reduce themselves to “Ant bails us out.”
But, when the open looks come? Donte, Naz, Jaden, Ayo, and the rest of the crew have to make them.
#4: Win the Boring Stuff
Big games are decided by the stuff that doesn’t make the highlight reel.
- Rebounding: You cannot give Denver second chances. On the flip side, Rudy turning misses into putbacks is a cheat code. It’s how you survive stretches where the jumpers go cold.
- Turnovers: Guarding Jokic is already difficult enough. Erasing a hard-earned defensive stop by coughing the ball up and allowing an easy transition basket is demoralizing.
- Free throws: Minnesota cannot keep leaving points at the line like it’s some quirky personality trait. Against Denver, you don’t get to throw away free points and then act shocked you lost by four.
This is the game where you have to play grown-up basketball.
#5: You Need Peak Ant and Peak Julius
Let’s start with Julius Randle.
He’s been in a funk. There have been games where he looks like he’s wearing ankle weights on defense.
But here’s the truth: the Wolves don’t have another option. They need Beast Julius, the guy who can bully smaller defenders, collapse the paint, make smart kickouts, and occasionally remind everyone he’s capable of turning a quarter into his personal WWE match. If Minnesota gets that version of Julius, the game tilts.
And then there’s Ant.
Ant is going to have moments where he has to put on the cape, but Chris Finch was begging him late against the Clippers to move the ball for a reason. There were possessions where the Wolves were up four with a chance to create meaningful separation, Ant dribbled the clock down, forced an inefficient shot, missed, and suddenly LA was scoring before Minnesota even set its defense. It happened multiple times. That hero ball worked against a depleted Clippers team. It will not work against Jokic.
This is the distinction: we don’t need Superman. We need the Avengers.
Ant has to be the best version of himself, the one who scores but also makes everyone else better. The one whose gravity bends the floor and creates clean looks for the Wolves’ talent snipers. The one who wins the game in the first three quarters so the fourth quarter isn’t a coin flip.
This Is the “Flip the Script” Opportunity
The Wolves have spent most of this season looking up at Denver in the standings. Sunday is the chance to flip that dynamic. It’s the chance to change the season-series story. It’s the chance to take a big step toward that three-seed dream that keeps popping up every time Minnesota strings together a few wins. It’s the chance to set the tone for March, a month that’s going to be a gauntlet of West Coast road games, heavyweight matchups, and real tests.
If you’re a Wolves fan, you know how this goes. The Wolves are capable of beating anybody. They’ve proven it. They can look like a contender with a capital C.
They can also sleepwalk, get disinterested, treat the moment like it’s optional, and wake up too late.
So the game is simple:
- If they bring the switch-on defense,
- if they make Jokic work,
- if the ball moves and the shots fall,
- if they win the boring stuff,
- and if Ant and Julius play like leaders instead of solo artists…
…they can win this game. They can take the standing spot. They can plant the flag.
This is the next rung on the ladder.
Can they pull themselves up and over Denver?
We’ll find out Sunday afternoon.