Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets
Date: November 17th, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM CST
Location: Target Center
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: KFAN FM, Wolves App, iHeart Radio
There was a time, not that long ago, when the greatest wish of every Wolves fan was simple: “Please just let us stop losing to the Washington Wizards on a random Tuesday.”
That was it. That was the bar. Just stop the repeated tradition of face-planting against bottom-feeders.
Well, in a very Monkey’s Paw twist, that wish finally came true. This version of the Wolves no longer loses to bad teams. They don’t even flirt with losing to them. They see a tomato can and immediately turn into 1980’s Mike Tyson.
The elite teams, the ones you measure yourself against, are suddenly their achilles heel.
Minnesota is sitting at 8–5, and those five losses all have one thing in common: they came against teams with real résumés. One to the Knicks. Two to the Lakers. Two to the Nuggets.
The Wolves have become the NBA’s most polished bully. They’ll steal your lunch money, stuff you in a locker, and flip your backpack inside-out… But put them up against the kids who lift after school? Suddenly they don’t seem quite as tough.
Now comes another four-game stretch of “get right” basketball: Dallas → Washington → Phoenix → Sacramento.
Four teams in various states of disarray. Four chances to regain ground in the West.
The Dallas Mavericks: A Team Without a Pulse… or a Plan
Remember when the Wolves and Mavs met in the Western Conference Finals just two years ago? Feels like a decade. Back then, both were scrappy, rising teams with young superstars and real trajectories.
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Dallas is a cautionary tale. The front office bet everything on the Luka Doncic trade and the Kyrie/AD era that never fully materialized. Injuries hit. Chemistry cratered. Nico Harrison got bounced like a dropped quarter.
Now the Mavs basically exist to:
- Freefall gracefully into a top pick, and
- Pray Cooper Flagg is the next great prospect.
The Wolves get their first look at this version of Dallas on Monday night — a reeling team, missing stars, without structure, with fans already scouring mock drafts.
If Minnesota is serious about being a top-three seed, this is the type of game you not only win… you dominate.
1. Don’t Play With Your Food
This has actually been Minnesota’s superpower this season. They no longer let bad teams hang around. They come out swinging, stomp on throats, and get the starters ice packs by the fourth quarter.
Against Dallas, that energy has to show up immediately. Punch early. Punch often.
This can’t be the game where the Wolves take a nap for a quarter and let the Mavs go on a “Klay Thompson Heat Check” run. Handle business from the jump.
2. Take Care of the Ball — Seriously
The Wolves have been a tad sloppy lately. Against Sacramento, the carelessness let the Kings linger far longer than they should have. Against Denver, the turnovers were downright deadly.
Dallas may not be good, but they can definitely score off mistakes. Nothing fuels a bottom-feeder upset quite like a team giving them free possessions.
Value the ball.
Make the simple pass.
Pretend every turnover results in Chris Finch making you run wind sprints.
3. Win the Battle in the Paint
If Wolves fans collectively flinch at the phrase “Gafford and Lively” it’s because they absolutely terrorized Minnesota in the 2024 Western Conference Finals. Every offensive rebound felt like a mini-trauma. Every putback felt like being dunked on emotionally. I still see a Dereck Lively wide open in the dunker’s spot in my nightmares.
Anthony Davis is listed as a game-time decision. If AD joins the fray, then the Mavericks present one of the rare situations this season where the Wolves don’t hold a size advantage.
Gobert, Randle, and Naz need to be disciplined, physical, and ready to dominate the glass and defend the paint.
4. Make It Rain from Deep
The Wolves did not shoot well against Denver. At all. The three-point avalanche that usually comes from Ant, McDaniels, and DiVincenzo never materialized.
Against Dallas, that can’t happen. You have to stretch out their defense. Punish the sagging bigs. Make them guard all 94 feet and use their legs on closeouts.
If the Wolves hit threes early and often? This game could be done by halftime.
This is a classic trap stretch: four winnable games, four struggling opponents, four opportunities to play down to the competition… again.
But if the Wolves want to climb back into the top of the West, if they want to regain the ground they lost to Denver, then they have to go 4–0 over this stretch. No excuses. No sleepwalking. No “we’ll turn it on later.”
The Western Conference is too stacked. The margins are too thin. And the Wolves’ flaws against elite teams are too glaring to ignore.
Real contenders feast here.
Fake contenders stumble here.
Minnesota has four games to show us which one they are.
