Nikola Jokic keeps finding new ways to amaze everyone.
The Denver Nuggets may have lost their first matchup this season with the fellow Western Conference heavyweight Minnesota Timberwolves in a thriller last Friday night, but reigning MVP Nikola Jokic still did enough to spook star Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert during a key late-game sequence.
In the Minnesota locker room, Edwards and Gobert openly chatted about how Jokic knew one of their plays out of a timeout before they got into position. The two Timberwolves franchise players couldn’t believe that Jokic telegraphed precisely what they were planning to do.
While it’s not confirmed that the video below was the sequence, it sure seems like it is based on how Edwards and Gobert watch in clear disbelief as Jokic gives directions and tells the other Nuggets where to stand.
On Monday, as the Nuggets prepared for a home game against the Toronto Raptors, Denver starting shooting guard Christian Braun was asked about Jokic spooking Edwards and Gobert after their conversation went viral. Braun claimed that Jokic really does this kind of thing every game.
For Braun, who is made better by Jokic’s uncanny intelligence and feel for the game, this is just a regular occurrence. That’s absurd, man:
Nikola Jokic knew this Timberwolves inbounds play too.
Jokic even pushed Christian Braun into a better position to guard Anthony Edwards. It caught Minnesota off guard and they had to audible.
At face value, it’s not surprising that a superstar like Jokic probably watches a lot of film and studies opposing teams’ tendencies. That’s a prerequisite task if you’re going to be an exceptional professional athlete. No elite talent goes out there every night and wings it that much.
But this Jokic instance felt a bit different. Basketball is much more of a free-flowing game than other sports, where film study comes in even handier. The Timberwolves hadn’t even entered their set yet. And Jokic knew exactly what they wanted to do before they initiated it anyway, much to the shock of Minnesota’s two best players.
Jokic is in Year 10 of an illustrious career. Somehow, he’s still finding new ways to shock and amaze everyone who watches him play.
The dunk was nasty, the celebration was a bit much.
Christian Braun threw down an early contender for Dunk of the Year on Friday night when his Denver Nuggets visited the Minnesota Timberwolves.
As the Nuggets nursed a six-point lead with barely five minutes left in regulation, Braun took a feed from Russell Westbrook, soared into the lane and launched himself over four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.
Braun attacking the rim regardless of who’s in front of him is nothing new. Neither was his reaction. The guard let out a road as thunderous as his dunk and shoved Gobert out of the way, starting a bit of a scuffle.
Christian Braun and Rudy Gobert got into it after this play.
The brouhaha ended with the refs assessing double technical fouls and killing whatever momentum the Nuggets gained from Braun’s dunk. That ended up becoming a turning point for the Timberwolves, who stormed back with a 17-6 run and secured the 119-116 win on an Anthony Edwards go-ahead bucket with 25 seconds remaining.
After the latest tough Nuggets loss, Braun owned up to his part in sparking Minnesota’s run and admitted some regret over his actions.
“I got to be more responsible,” Braun told reporters after the game. “It’s two points. Obviously, those are the plays you want to make and those are the momentum plays I want to make, but getting a tech throws the momentum their way, so I got to do a better job of controlling myself.”
Anthony Edwards plays well in Timberwolves’ season opener
Former Georgia Bulldog Anthony Edwards has been the face of the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise for a few years, and he proved it in the second game of the NBA season. He scored 27 points, which led the team, along with six rebounds and three assists, making 10 of his 25 attempts. Unfortunately, his prowess couldn’t lift the Timberwolves over the Lakers, losing 110-103.
Edwards had this to say in the press conference after the game.
“I feel like we got really good shots. I feel like we just missed a lot of shots, me included.”
On getting open looks:
“I feel like I got a lot of open looks tonight. Like I said, we got great looks. If we make those shots we win the game. It’s that simple. If I make the open shots I missed I’ll win the game.”
On the first half turnovers:
“We made some lazy passes. We weren’t ready to play yet. We came too relaxed,” said Edwards.
Here is the link to the full post-game interview:
Edwards is one of three Georgia Bulldogs in the NBA along with Orlando Magic guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton.
After a dominant win by the Los Angeles Lakers over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Opening Night, fans heard from Anthony Davis.
The nine-time All-Star played a particularly great game, finishing with 36 points and 16 rebounds as well as 3 blocks and 1 steal. It was a masterful performance by Davis, who played well against Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert.
Davis, who also defeated Gobert when Team USA won a gold medal over Team France during the 2024 Paris Olympics, spoke about his game after the win. He took a not-so-subtle shot at Gobert, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year winner.
Davis (+2200) is more of a sleeper than some of the frontrunners but if he plays like he did in the season opener, he will have a serious chance to win it.
The Minnesota legends lived up to the billing by doing this.
Back in 2000, Viking star wide receiver Randy Moss and Timberwolves legend Kevin Garnett teamed up for one of the most epic photos in recent memory. It was on ESPN magazine, and Moss wore a Garnett jersey, and Garnett wore a Moss jersey.
On Tuesday, the photo was recreated between the newest Minnesota stars. Justin Jefferson and Anthony Edwards teamed up to recreate the photo that Minnesota fans will always remember.
In the original photo, Randy Moss wore diamond studs, and Kevin Garnett boasted miniature gold hoops and a nondescript band around his left wrist. Now, Jefferson pairs larger diamond studs with a layered diamond chain; Edwards also wears a necklace, along with a black hoop through his right earlobe.
With the NBA opening up on Tuesday night, the photo was perfect for spreading across the internet.
Justin Jefferson and Anthony Edwards recreated that iconic photo of Randy Moss and Kevin Garnett 🔥
A look back at photos of the model and the Knicks star.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jordyn Woods have known each other a long time, but it wasn’t until 2020 that they actually got together as a couple.
Per People, they were friends … and then they were more than friends during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were Instagram official in September of 2020, and ever since then, we’ve seen her courtside at games and they’ve posted about each other on social media ever since.
As the New York Knicks star continues to produce in the NBA, let’s take a look back at some of their most adorable moments on Instagram that we’ve seen so far in their relationship:
Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards says a lot of fascinating stuff but his latest comments are particularly intriguing.
Edwards, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and is establishing himself as one of the most exciting young basketball players in the world, has big plans for his next few years.
The 23-year-old guard recently spoke to ESPN for a story about him and Minnesota Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson. According to Edwards, if he wins an NBA championship in the next three to four years, he will play football.
"If I win a ring in the next 3-4 years, I'm going to play football."
Anthony Edwards says he could play in the NFL if he wins a ring in the next few years 👀
If you read this quote plainly, you may think he is joking or trying to get a laugh from the interviewer.
But watch the way that Edwards said what he said and it is pretty obvious that he meant what he said. Remember: Edwards has said that football was his first love (via ESPN):
He says if he were drafted by the NFL tomorrow, he’d let basketball go. “Because you can do anything on the field,” he explains. “You can spike the ball. You can dance. You can do all type of disrespectful stuff.” In the NBA, he says, “you can’t do any of that. You’ll get fined.”
Edwards was an excellent football player when he was growing up and he almost certainly still believes he could compete at the highest level.
While it is unclear if there is any chance this could actually happen, fans should believe that Edwards actually would want to make this dream into a reality.
Donte DiVincenzo is still so bitter with the Knicks.
Sunday night was the first time that Donte DiVincenzo faced his old team, the New York Knicks, after being thrown into the shocking Karl-Anthony Towns trade. And let me tell you, DiVincenzo, now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, did not seem remotely interested in holding back any ill feelings over his life being uprooted just days before Knicks training camp.
It started with DiVincenzo appearing to trash-talk Tom Thibodeau while shooting free throws. The guard was seen jawing at Thibodeau, with some incorrectly assuming it was about his trade from New York.
As DiVincenzo clarified after the game, he was actually rhetorically asking Thibodeau about whether he could finish at the rim, a criticism he apparently heard during his Knicks stint:
“Thank you for the trade Thibs. Thank you for the trade… that’s what happens when they let you run the show. That’s what happens when they let you run the show” pic.twitter.com/9F8LD8YRLI
Donte DiVincenzo says that he was not talking to Tom Thibodeau about being traded to the Timberwolves when he yelled towards the Knicks' bench during the game tonight: pic.twitter.com/SfMNclGOhv
DiVincenzo and Brunson were caught in a heated argument on the postgame court where they actually had to be separated by other Timberwolves and Knicks players. It was not clear what was said between them:
Whatever happened here, it sure seems like we have the early makings of a tasty interconference rivalry. The Knicks will visit DiVincenzo’s Timberwolves again in late December.
The Minnesota Timberwolves see what the Vikings are doing and want to keep the momentum together.
The Minnesota Timberwolves see what the Vikings are doing and want to keep the momentum together. We saw several Vikings players showing their support for the team during the NBA Finals run last season. Now, they have an added layer to the connection they have outside of the city.
The Timberwolves recently traded star player Karl Anthony-Towns to the New York Knicks in exchange for two players, one of whom was Donte DiVincenzo. Ironically enough, DiVincenzo was a high school teammate with Vikings offensive tackle Brian O’Neill on the hardwood.
Speaking at his introductory press conference, he shared that they had some decent success together. DiVincenzo shared “We won what, two state championships together I think, big fella, love him to death.”
The Vikings will continue to support the Timberwolves with his connection. Perhaps they even try to have some basketball players at practice and games to boost the connection. To Minnesota’s credit, the entire city does a great job lifting each other up; this is another fun example of that.
Donte DiVincenzo on his relationship with Vikings tackle Brian O’Neal
“We won what, two state championships together I think, big fella, love him to death”
But winning a title in the NBA is often about ideal matchups. Every team — and this is without exception — has its fatal flaw, an unavoidable kryptonite. A superstar like Jokic is transcendent, but he and his Nuggets teammates are not unbeatable.
Karl-Anthony Towns was the primary defender on Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic in back-to-back series, credibly guarding Hall of Famers with vastly different skills while also averaging 19 points on 52/44/83 shooting.
With everyone healthy and at their best, Jokic’s Nuggets two most notable playoff losses have come at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2020 Western Conference Finals and to last year’s Timberwolves in the second round.
How both teams primarily beat Denver is no coincidence.
In 2020, the Lakers used a rotation of three bigs featuring Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, and JaVale McGee to overwhelm Jokic. Jokic is arguably the most skilled center in the league — especially thanks to his all-time floater game. He is a one-man matchup problem who can score at will against sizable NBA defense in isolation or the post as he pleases. However, the Lakers ensured that they always had someone with size and athleticism fronting Jokic while the other forward roamed as a low-man backup in case the initial line of defense was lost.
With an exhausted Jokic still maturing as an All-NBA-caliber player, the Lakers cruised to a five-game series win. Though, Davis had his remarkable individual moments on offense, too:
The two-big lineup is not an unbeatable coverage for Jokic, per se, who has shown he can find a way to the rim and get a quality shot off anyway. But that requires the Serbian star to use a lot more of his energy. This sort of mix wears him down over time. When Jokic is tired and gassed, he’s eventually no longer working tirelessly for quality shots, he’s settling for random 3-pointers, and he’s often even failing to swallow a litany of defensive rebounds his reputation is centered around.
The Nuggets, in effect, are a shell of themselves with Jokic in this state.
The Timberwolves had a near-carbon copy of this equation to defend Jokic. They could use Towns or power forward Naz Reid to front him while four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert roamed, waiting to send over his help defense or to block the shot. To his credit, Jokic still found ways to make an impact against this defensive coverage — his masterful 40-point, 13-assist, seven-rebound effort in Game 5 of the series comes to mind — but again, that takes a lot out of him. And Towns certainly seemed like he challenged Jokic the most of all three defenders.
There’s also a reason the Timberwolves don’t usually prefer putting Gobert on Jokic in single coverage because this is what happens:
By his high standards, after having to metaphorically break his back against Towns, Gobert, and Reid all series, Jokic almost appeared ephemeral in stunning back-to-back losses in Game 6 and 7. It’s because the Timberwolves had the perfect defensive coverage to combat his skill. With all due respect to Julius Randle, he is not nearly the same kind of defender as Towns, let alone as talented.
And if the Timberwolves want to use more of Reid against Jokic while Gobert roams, well, I’ll let the screenshot below from their most recent playoff battle tell the story about how that would likely go:
With Towns out of the picture now, Minnesota got a lot worse against Denver, specifically, as a result.
None of this is to say that the Nuggets’ path through the Western Conference to another NBA championship this season has parted like the Red Sea. The West remains a daunting gauntlet, with juggernaut contenders like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, and yes, even the Timberwolves without Towns, still standing in Denver’s way, among others.
But if you’re Denver, you likely always feel great about your chances in any playoff series the easier Jokic has it. The looser his individual matchups are, the more likely it is the Nuggets will find a way to beat you in a back-and-forth best-of-seven. I would not be shocked to learn that Denver’s front office celebrated this Towns trade just as much as anyone actually involved in the deal. As Denver aims for two titles in three years, this might have been the organization’s biggest move of the offseason, and it didn’t even have to lift a finger.
As it currently stands, no other West championship contender has proven they have the ultimate antidote to trying to beat Jokic. With Towns, the Timberwolves did. But that reality is dead and gone now.
