Key Matchup: JaVale McGee vs. Dante Cunningham When the Wolves were rolling earlier in the season, a lot of the energy the team fed off of came from forward Dante Cunningham. Cunningham has the ability to enter games and make his presence felt with his defensive intensity and his knack for crashing the boards. Against this Nuggets team, he’ll need to bring both in order to combat Denver’s massive presence on the boards. When Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic get their rest in this game, Minnesota’s reserves must find a way to continue pestering the Nuggets defensively and corralling rebounds. Cunningham will be an important part of the second unit’s efforts in that department. On the Nuggets’ bench, JaVale McGee has put together a pair of really solid games for the Nuggets in their past two contests. He scored 12 points, added nine boards and had six blocked shots in a loss to Memphis on Saturday night, and he followed it up with 11 points, seven rebounds, and three assists in a win over the Clippers on New Year’s Day. McGee is a long 7-foot center who can impact a game on both ends of the floor with his scoring down low and his ability to contest shots. He already has 11 games this year in which he’s collected at least three blocked shots, and he’s averaging 10.7 points and 5.2 rebounds off the bench. Injury Report: Same situation for the Timberwolves tonight as Ricky Rubio did not make the trip and will be unavailable. Lazar Hayward got a few minutes late in Wednesday’s loss to Utah, but at this juncture it looks like Adelman will likely stick with his three healthy guards Luke Ridnour, Alexey Shved and JJ Barea as his primary back court rotation. The Nuggets will be without small forward Wilson Chandler (hip, groin) and point guard Julyan Stone (hip) until approximately mid-January, but the big question for tonight’s game is whether or not point guard Ty Lawson will play. He sat out Tuesday’s game with a strain in his left Achilles tendon, and he is officially listed as questionable tonight. In his absence on Tuesday, Andre Miller got the start against Los Angeles.
*-Questionable for tonight with left Achilles tendon strain