By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The Minnesota Timberwolves capped off a perfect three-game road trip on Sunday with a 117-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets. The win improved their record to 38-23 for the 2025-26 NBA Regular Season, leaving the opponents at 37-24 and placing them fifth in the Western Conference standings.
A central narrative of the game was the frontcourt battle between European centers Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokic, with the winning big reaching seven points, 15 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block over 38 minutes. After the game, the 33-year-old Frenchman emphasized the importance of this win: “We’re here to win a championship, so we try to get homecourt advantage. Every game matters, but this one, I think, kind of matters even more.”
Jokic delivered a dominant individual performance, finishing just shy of a triple-double with 35 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, two blocks, and a steal. However, Gobert noted that Minnesota’s strategy was to prioritize team defense over stopping him individually. “Sometimes he might score 40, but if he scores 40 and they don’t score 100 points as a team, that’s a win for us,” he explained. “I was trying to limit him as much as I can, but trying to limit them as a team as much as I can.”
The Wolves’ defense fueled their transition game, allowing them to recover from a slow start at Ball Arena. Gobert explained the team’s rhythm: “To be able to run, we got to get stops first. Outside of the first quarter, I thought we did a great job. Just rebounding, or getting the steal, then pushing the ball and making the right play, running to space and finding each other.”
Denver struggled against this pressure, committing 13 turnovers, five of which came from Jokic himself. “Just not turn the ball over. That gave them so many easy looks,” the Joker admitted. Reflecting on Denver’s eighth loss in 12 games, he added, “I think, overall, we kind of played good, but in those moments, like it was three or four times during the game, when they had the runs, we kind of stopped playing defense, and that cost us the game.”
Starting alongside Gobert for the visitors, Italian Donte DiVincenzo went for 17 points, five assists, and two steals, but France’s Joan Beringer did not play. On the wrong end, Lithuanian Jonas Valanciunas registered two points, five rebounds, and one block.