The Minnesota Timberwolves are on the brink of being swept by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs. Losing three straight games against the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, the Timberwolves are headed for yet another early playoff exit.

The Timberwolves' first season after going all-in with the Rudy Gobert trade was an utter disappointment. Minnesota hoped that Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards would form the core of a championship contender for years to come. The Timberwolves have barely put a scare into the Nuggets, let alone looked like a team that could make a run to the NBA Finals.

How did Minnesota come up so short against Denver? Let's take a look at the Timberwolves most to blame for the team's potential sweep at the hands of the Nuggets.

Karl-Anthony Towns

In order for the Timberwolves to upset the Nuggets, Minnesota needed Towns and Edwards to both perform like superstars. Edwards has held up his end of the bargain. Towns has not.

Edwards leads the Timberwolves with 31.7 points per game on 50% shooting in the playoffs. Towns is averaging just 16.0 points on 40.9% shooting. Towns put up an impressive stat line in Minnesota's Game 3 loss. He scored 27 points on 58.8% shooting. Towns also had just one assist with four turnovers. In Game 1 and Game 2, Towns was held to 21 combined points on 27 field-goal attempts. Had the 27-year-old stepped up in the Timberwolves' 122-113 Game 2 defeat, Minnesota would've had a real chance to steal a win in Denver.

Towns' effective field-goal percentage has plummeted from 56.5% in the regular season to 46.6% in the playoffs. Averages of 4.8 assists and 3.0 turnovers per game have turned into 1.7 assists and 4.3 turnovers in the postseason.

Despite being a former No. 1 overall pick and a three-time All-Star, Towns hasn't developed into the superstar that the Timberwolves had hoped they drafted. Superstars are supposed to elevate their game when it matters the most. For the second straight year, Towns has been worse in the playoffs than he was in the regular season.

Rudy Gobert

In order for the Rudy Gobert trade to be viewed as anything close to a win for the Timberwolves, the center has to be a game-changer on defense. Gobert was not the defensive force that Minnesota had thought it acquired in the regular season. The same has been true for the playoffs, where Gobert's impact always seems to be underwhelming.

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The Nuggets are averaging 117 points per game against the Timberwolves. Only the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Milwaukee Bucks have a worse defensive rating in the 2023 playoffs than Minnesota. That's not supposed to happen when you have a three-time Defensive Player of the Year protecting the rim. Gobert has just three blocks against Denver. He doesn't have a single steal. Edwards has actually been Minnesota's best defensive player in the series.

In Game 1, Minnesota was outscored by 28 points in Gobert's 26 minutes of action. With Gobert on the court for the series, the Nuggets are scoring 129.8 points per 100 possessions. If Denver had that kind of offensive rating for a full season, the Nuggets would have the greatest offense in NBA history and it wouldn't be close.

Nikola Jokic has been fantastic. The back-to-back MVP is averaging 20.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game against the Timberwolves. It's not exactly a knock against Gobert that he can't stop Jokic, but the Timberwolves center needed to do more on defense in order to give Minnesota a chance.