Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets Game 3 NBA Playoff Odds

The Western Conference’s No. 1 vs. No. 8 first round playoff matchup rolls on Friday, April 21st when the Minnesota Timberwolves host the Denver Nuggets at the Target Center for Game 3. The Nuggets were utterly and completely dominant in Game 1, though the Timberwolves gave them quite a scare in the second half of Game 2. The Nuggets still pulled out the win to go up 2-0 in the series, however, and come into Game 3 as surprisingly slight moneyline favorites on most NBA betting sites.

Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets NBA Odds - April 21st, 930PM EST

The Denver Nuggets head out on the road for the first time in this postseason and it seems that oddsmakers are giving Minnesota a huge home boost here. The first two games had the Nuggets as -8.0 favorites, but for Game 3, all they have to do is win by a three-pointer to cover, which means there’s tons of value on the West’s No. 1 seed here. All odds provided by Betway.

Minnesota Timberwolves Odds

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been thoroughly outplayed in seven of the eight quarters of this series so far. The only exception was the third quarter of Game 2 where they shot an unreplicable 80 percent from the field for 40 points to take the lead going into the fourth quarter.

Rudy Gobert had a great Game 2, showing great chemistry with Mike Conley which resulted in at least a half dozen dunks for the Frenchman. He also did about as good a job as you can ask for in guarding All-World center and 2x NBA MVP Nikola Jokic in the post. If he can keep that same intensity moving forward while cleaning up the fouls a bit, he’ll have done his part for Chris Finch’s team.

Anthony Edwards put on a godly performance on Wednesday night, supplying 27 of his 41 points in the second half. He showed his ability to be a shot maker behind the arc, but the best part of his game was his ability to get in the lane and glide to the hoop for easy layups. Alas, it was not enough.

If Edwards can continue to be aggressive getting to the hoop and converting, Conley takes a few more shots a game, and the veteran point guard continues to pair well with Gobert in the pick and roll, the only thing the Timberwolves will need to be seriously competitive here is absolutely anything from Karl-Anthony Towns.

The big man has been abysmal so far, shooting 8-for-27 for 21 points combined in the first two games. That’s simply not going to cut it for a guy of his caliber and talent. KAT needs to be taking 20 shots a game, and he needs to be getting most of those down low in the paint instead of chucking up threes, which have accounted for about half of his field goal attempts so far this series.

Denver Nuggets Odds

The Nuggets are not known as a defensive team, but every one in the rotation has bought in for the playoffs. Watching those first two games you would have seen Nikola Jokic hoofing it back in transition defense like you’ve never seen a 7’1”, 284-pounder hoof it before, and you’d see Murray getting tight to his man, blocking shots, and playing the passing lanes.

With those two more offensive-minded guys leaving it all out there defensively, it sets the tone for the rest of the squad to do the same. We continue to see elite perimeter defense from Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Aaron Gordon has been doing an excellent job on Towns as well.

Running the offense through the Jokic-Murray pick and roll in the half court has worked wonders, but Denver has found the most success getting out and running in transition. Whether it’s a missed free throw, a missed field goal, a turnover, they’re taking that ball and pushing it like there’s no tomorrow.

Basically everyone in Denver’s rotation can be trusted to bring the ball up as well, which gives Malone’s squad a ton of flexibility when running the break, which they did perfectly in the first half of Game 2, going into halftime with a 19-3 fastbreak advantage.

Playing tough defense and trying to run the other team out of the gym have been working like gangbusters for Denver, but they also need to make shots, and that’s exactly what Murray has been doing to the tune of 64 points through the first two games. The Nuggets should have few issues on the road and offer a ton of betting value at just -2.5 on the spread or -135 on the moneyline.