Timberwolves vs. Nuggets backstory

This is a very exciting time in the NBA. The playoffs are finally right around the corner after a hectic 82 game, 8-month long regular season. Everything in anticipation to crown an NBA champ. In the West this year a little more dramatics were involved in the race to get into the postseason, as seeds 4-8 were a dogfight. Utah clinched Sunday against the Lakers and on Tuesday the Thunder, Spurs and Pelicans all clinched a trip to the postseason. That left 1 spot and 2 teams left in the race. Both the Timberwolves and the Nuggets are at 46 wins. The best part? The last remaining game of the season is against each other. It's a winner take all game. Hints of an NCAA tournament where one game and the best team advances to the playoffs. 

I mean no better way to end off the season than a winner takes all game. The Timberwolves will host the Nuggets on Wednesday. It has been a crazy season for both teams.

The Timberwolves at one point looking like the third best team in the Western Conference and a definite lock to make the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. This is the second longest playoff drought in NBA history and the longest active drought. The last time they made the playoffs was during Kevin Garnett's MVP season where he leads them to the Western Conference finals. The last time the Timberwolves were in the playoffs the iPhone did not exist. The iPhone didn't exist. That's a long time. They have had their fair share of turmoil. With the work ethic of a Jimmy Butler attempting to gel with their young and upcoming stars Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony Towns. It wasn't the smoothest of transitions and Butler expecting more out of his teammates, especially Andrew Wiggins. At first, it was looked as a great role for Butler to mentor Wiggins and as Butler aged, relinquishing the team to the young stars. It has been quite the opposite, with both players having tension and Jimmy even taking shots publically. On top of this, they aren't a great defensive team and Thibs isn't an offensive coach. This isn't great as their offense isn't used to their best potential as Thibs is very predictive and it will be difficult in the playoffs.


 
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It feels like the Nuggets have been knocking on the door of the playoffs forever. The last time they made the playoffs was in 2013 where they were the three seed and surprised everyone by being playing so well. They had a bright young cast and looked like would be a piece away from being a perennial contender in the West. However, they were knocked off in the 2013 playoffs in the first-round by a red-hot Steph Curry who was making his playoff debut. From there on, they have been fighting just to get in the playoffs, losing Andre Iguodala, Ty Lawson and other pieces from that 2013 team. A quick rebuild and finding their future piece, who turned out to be a second-round pick in Nikola Jokic. After clearing the frontcourt for him and trading Jusif Nurkic, he showed the NBA his potential. With great surrounding pieces in Jamal Murray, Gary Harris and Will Barton they looked to make a playoff push last year.  However, they fell short by a game as they won 40 games to the Trailblazers 41. So the Nuggets signed what they thought the missing piece was in Allstar forward Paul Milsap. At the start of the season, hopes were high as they felt the team was ready to take the next step. However, with a loaded Western Conference, it wasn't as easy as it seemed, on top of that, major injuries to Milsap and Harris along with lingering injuries to Jokic and others, it made difficult to get consistency. The Nuggets hovered around spots 8-10 all season long. The West was stacked with 10 teams with playoff contention and the two best teams in the league. Finally, with their life on the line, the Nuggets started playing inspired basketball behind ridiculous numbers by Nikola Jokic. In the last 14 games, Jokic averages 24.5 pts, 10.9 reb, 6 ast, 1.4 stl, 1 blk and north of 50% shooting from both the field and three-point range. 




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Next post will include who we think will win tonight's game.