The Minnesota Timberwolves faced an uphill climb on Tuesday night. Hosting the reigning champion Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic is a test by itself, but doing so on the second night of a back-to-back with travel is even more challenging. Add in the fact that Minnesota was once again without Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert and now Naz Reid, and it appeared the Timberwolves were destined for failure in a battle between two Western Conference powerhouses.
However, Anthony Edwards’ stellar play (30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists) willed Minnesota to stay in the ballgame while two-way wing Jaden McDaniels delivered one of his best games of the season. McDaniels shot 9-of-13 from the floor and drilled four triples ,including a clutch shot from deep with less than 10 seconds to go. Off the bench, Luka Garza stepped up in a big way, providing some quality minutes when the Wolves needed him most.
Despite the fat stack of circumstances pinned against Minnesota, they battled tooth and nail until the end with Denver. The Nuggets held on for a 115-112 win over the Timberwolves, but Garza’s play specifically paints a picture on how the Timberwolves could take advantage of Minnesota in future meetings.
Let’s analyze Garza’s performance off the bench Tuesday night, evaluating how the Wolves can exercise their advantages in a potential playoff matchup against Denver.
Luka Garza battled Nikola Jokic
The Timberwolves turned to Kyle Anderson as the starting “centter” with all of Towns (meniscus tear), Gobert (rib sprain) and Reid (head injury) out. The Nuggets hunted Anderson very quickly into the game. Tangling with Jokic on post-ups, duck-ins and through screen-and-rolls, Slow Mo found himself in foul trouble early.
After just a few minutes of game time, head coach Chris Finch sent Garza to the scorer’s table to check in. Known for his elite scoring dominance in college, the big man came into the game aggressive and looking to score. Immediately, Garza delivered with a three-ball following a dribble hand-off with Mike Conley.
Throughout the game, Minnesota allowed the typical bench reserve to look for his chances to score with Jokic defending him. Garza hit the glass with a tip layup to end the first quarter and flashed his touch with a soft floater off the baseline in the second quarter. He scored 11 points overall in 22 minutes of play.
A primary focus of Garza's development has been the defensive end of the court. Working tirelessly to improve, Garza’s hard work paid off some in his battle with the league’s best big man. While Jokic was great like always, it wasn’t a cake walk for the two-time MVP. At times, Garza got the better of Jokic and was instrumental in the Wolves’ second-half comeback efforts. His increased defensive physicality generated a few turnovers and got the Timberwolves out and running in transition.
Luka Garza battling Nikola Jokic in the post pic.twitter.com/J9Q5e7OeeO
— Sheldon Wohlman (@3swohlman) March 20, 2024
Timberwolves’ stylistic advantages for future Nuggets matchups
Behind Garza’s offensive successewas Minnesota’s ability to attack one of Jokic’s biggest defensive weaknesses. At times, the defending Finals MVP can struggle defending bigs in pick-and-pop action. The Wolves hunted those opportunities with Gobert out on Tuesday. Frequently putting Jokic into ball screens, Garza found ample space to shoot the rock with the Nuggets big man out of position defensively.
Timberwolves take advantage of Nikola Jokic in the pick and pop game as Luka Garza fades a screen pic.twitter.com/8yLHC0I7Mo
— Sheldon Wohlman (@3swohlman) March 20, 2024
Garza played well on Tuesday night, but missed a few wide-open opportunities from deep on similar plays in the close loss. When Minnesota is back to full strength with both Towns and Reid back, it will be essential to continue hunting these looks. The combination of Gobert and KAT gives the Timberwolves a good defensive matchup for the Aaron Gordon and Jokic pairing, while utilizing Reid and Towns simultaneously can be a good offensive combination to attack Jokic on the other end.
Postgame, ClutchPoints asked Mike Conley about attacking the Nuggets with pick-and-pops. The veteran point guard affirmed the plan of attack and how beneficial it can be for Minnesota down the road once healthy.
“We’d love to [attack with pick and pops]. I think that’s our strength with those guys. Naz, Luka, KAT obviously. We’ve got some of the best shooting bigs in the league,” Conley said. If we can get them some open shots, some open opportunities, we gotta try to do that.”
Luka Garza got a number of good looks in screen and pop action with Jokic defending him. I asked Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley about that action and if it’s something Minnesota can lean into in future matchups with Denver
Conley: “I mean, we’d love to. I think that’s our… pic.twitter.com/eripsTdR0d
— Sheldon Wohlman (@3swohlman) March 20, 2024
As one of the few teams equipped to handle the Nuggets at full strength, the Timberwolves have shown the ability to toggle between various advantages against the reigning champs. The league’s best defense may have found a huge offensive focal point to take down Denver in a future playoff series if the two teams meet and Towns and Reid deliver on open opportunities.
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