Scouting Report: Wolves at Nuggets

Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said after Monday’s game against Phoenix that the team’s stretch of upcoming games is chock full of teams playing for playoff position and that all of them will carry that level of importance.
Tonight’s game at Denver is a prime example. The Wolves and Nuggets square off at 8 p.m. at Pepsi Center, and Denver is currently situated one game ahead of the Suns for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. With Phoenix currently surging and Denver playing .500 ball over the last month—they are 9-9 since March 7—each game becomes more and more important as the regular season draws to a close.
The Wolves are on a six-game losing streak, their longest of the season, and tonight against their Northwest Division rival the main objective is getting back into the wins column. The two teams are 1-1 against one another this season—Denver won a 103-101 overtime matchup on Feb. 20, and Minnesota earned a 117-100 victory on March 25—so both teams are coming in looking to take the season series lead tonight.
Denver is currently 3-7 against the Northwest this season and is 17-12 at Pepsi Center. The Wolves hold a 4-6 divisional record and are 12-18 on the road this year. Last time out
Wolves forward Kevin Love continued his March tear during the two teams’ last meeting, finishing with 30 points and adding 21 rebounds in a 17-point victory over the Nuggets two and a half weeks ago. Love was an efficient 11-for-19 from the floor, perfect from the line (7-for-7) and brought down seven offensive boards in the game. The monster performance came two days after Love scored a franchise record 51 points against the Thunder. Meanwhile, Luke Ridnour had 25 points and three different Wolves players scored in double figures off the bench: Wayne Ellington had 17, Michael Beasley had 11 and Anthony Tolliver had 10. The Nuggets were without two of tonight’s probable starters as forward Danilo Gallinari (injury) and guard Arron Afflalo (suspension) did not play. Forward Kenneth Faried led the way with 17 points, while guards Ty Lawson and Andre Miller each had 14. Key matchup: Kevin Love vs. Kenneth Faried
It’s no secret Love is one of the game’s top scorers and rebounders this season. He’s second in the league in rebounding (13.5 RPG) and fourth in scoring (26.5 PPG) this season and is the league’s leader with 48 double-doubles. But he’ll have his hands full tonight with Faried, a rookie who has shown glimpses throughout the season of how tough he can be in the paint. Faried is coming off a 27-point, 17-rebound effort—both career highs—against Golden State on Monday in which he played only 24 minutes. He had 10 points and 14 boards in his first meeting with Minnesota in February, and in that particular game he crashed the offensive boards with authority in the second half of a game eventually headed to overtime. The numbers game
The last time these two teams met, the Nuggets shot 50 percent from the floor, held a 29-2 advantage in fast break points and outscored the Wolves 64-38 in the paint, yet Minnesota led throughout and cruised to a 117-100 victory. A lot of that had to do with Love’s 30-20 performance and a productive day from the Wolves’ bench. Tonight, Minnesota will need to control the paint better than last game, and they’ll have help in that department as center Nikola Pekovic will be in the lineup. Pekovic missed that last meeting with an ankle injury, but his bruising 6-foot-11, 290-pound frame should make an impact in the lane tonight. Afflalo heating up