Minnesota Timberwolves – Denver Nuggets · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 1 April 2025

MIN140–139DEN

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 99% of NBA games since 2017

· The win probability swung between the two teams 43 times

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ DEN winsMIN wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when DEN leads and falls when MIN does.

This is how the game was decided.

Anthony Edwards decided it, the Minnesota Timberwolves player with the most points (34, with 10 rebounds and 8 assists; +8 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Nickeil Alexander-Walker's (+14). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Denver Nuggets 139-140 Minnesota Timberwolves (April 1, 2025) was hit by Nickeil Alexander-Walker: a free throw with 0.0 s left in overtime 2, putting the Minnesota Timberwolves up 140-139. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Denver Nuggets 139-140 Minnesota Timberwolves (April 1, 2025) was a 12-0 run by the Denver Nuggets between the third quarter and the fourth quarter, from 77-84 to 89-84. The Minnesota Timberwolves' best was a 10-0 run in the second quarter (from 10:48 to 8:23), from 26-36 to 36-36.

With 61 points, this is Nikola Jokić's highest-scoring regular-season game of his career.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Nickeil Alexander-Walker makes free throw 2 of 3.

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

It is compared by points with all his official NBA box scores in that scope; it is the same criterion the Analyst uses.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker decided this game: his points put his team ahead at the buzzer of overtime 2, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 2 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Alexander-Walker decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

1 April 2025 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401705668:785; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · MIN

Edwards · Randle · McDaniels · Conley · Alexander-Walker

Closing lineup · DEN

Jokic · Braun · Gordon · Watson · Westbrook

Q1Q2Q3Q4OT1OT2

MIN

Anthony Edwards

50′ · +8

Julius Randle

50′ · +1

Jaden McDaniels

44′ · -7

Rudy Gobert

40′ · -10

Mike Conley

36′ · -22

Nickeil Alexander-Walker

45′ · +14

Jaylen Clark

9′ · +2

Josh Minott

12′ · +14

Rob Dillingham

4′ · +4

Luka Garza

0′ · 0

DEN

Nikola Jokic

53′ · +2

Christian Braun

53′ · +12

Aaron Gordon

47′ · +16

Peyton Watson

45′ · -11

Jalen Pickett

32′ · +4

Russell Westbrook

38′ · -5

Zeke Nnaji

11′ · -17

DeAndre Jordan

5′ · -3

Hunter Tyson

5′ · -3

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. MIN and DEN.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Edwards, McDaniels, Conley, Gobert, and Randle played 13.0 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, Edwards, McDaniels, Conley, and Randle played 10.2 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, Edwards, McDaniels, Gobert, and Randle played 6.7 minutes together.

The plus-minus of each Minnesota Timberwolves lineup is not shown: its rotation stints do not add up with each other.

Denver Nuggets

Braun, Watson, Westbrook, Gordon, and Jokic played 19.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Pickett, Braun, Watson, Gordon, and Jokic played 15.8 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 8 points.
Pickett, Braun, Westbrook, Gordon, and Jokic played 6.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 13 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Minnesota Timberwolves

Alexander-Walker, Edwards, Conley, Gobert, and Randle played 5.7 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, Edwards, Minott, Clark, and Randle played 4.6 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, McDaniels, Minott, Conley, and Gobert played 4.2 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, Edwards, Dillingham, Gobert, and Randle played 4.0 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, Edwards, McDaniels, Minott, and Randle played 3.3 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, Edwards, McDaniels, Clark, and Gobert played 2.7 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, McDaniels, Conley, Gobert, and Randle played 1.7 minutes together.
Alexander-Walker, McDaniels, Clark, Conley, and Gobert played 1.6 minutes together.

Denver Nuggets

Braun, Tyson, Westbrook, Jordan, and Gordon played 5.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Pickett, Nnaji, Watson, Westbrook, and Jokic played 4.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 13 points.
Pickett, Nnaji, Braun, Watson, and Jokic played 4.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
Pickett, Nnaji, Braun, Westbrook, and Jokic played 1.4 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Nnaji, Braun, Watson, Westbrook, and Jokic played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Christian Braun covered 6.36 km, more than anyone in the game.

Nikola Jokić touched the ball 154 times, a game high.
Nikola Jokić made 101 passes, a game high.
Rudy Gobert had 24 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Minnesota Timberwolves

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	5.71	6.8	80	59
Julius Randle	5.45	6.0	89	65
Anthony Edwards	5.42	5.8	125	86
Jaden McDaniels	5.39	6.7	68	47
Rudy Gobert	4.70	6.5	44	27
Mike Conley	4.55	6.9	100	88
Josh Minott	1.64	7.5	15	8
Jaylen Clark	1.16	7.0	8	3
Rob Dillingham	0.48	6.9	6	4

Denver Nuggets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Christian Braun	6.36	6.5	81	65
Nikola Jokić	5.81	6.0	154	101
Peyton Watson	5.21	6.2	41	29
Aaron Gordon	5.08	5.9	71	45
Russell Westbrook	4.42	6.1	80

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2024-25 regular season, not this game.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Rudy Gobert contested 9.9 shots per game over his 72 games.
He ranks 8 of 388 in the league.
Julius Randle recovered 0.9 loose balls per game over his 68 games.
He ranks 9 of 388 in the league.
Jaden McDaniels deflected 2.7 passes per game over his 82 games.
He ranks 35 of 388 in the league.

Denver Nuggets

Nikola Jokić deflected 3.8 passes per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 4 of 388 in the league.
Russell Westbrook deflected 2.5 passes per game over his 75 games.
He ranks 46 of 388 in the league.
Peyton Watson contested 5.4 shots per game over his 68 games.
He ranks 74 of 388 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Denver Nuggets have won 102 of their 176 games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

102-74record of the Denver Nuggets · NBA 1989-90 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

3-1in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1989-90 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

19.927

102.1% of capacity

Ball Arena · Denver

Scoring

279

combined points

51.3 above the season average (227.7)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

56 calls reviewed3 errors admitted by the NBA

Stoppage: Out-of-Bounds · 00:19.5

Julius Randle → Nuggets

Randle (MIN) is the last player to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds and possession should have been awarded to Denver.

Turnover: Backcourt Turnover · 00:33.6

Anthony Edwards → Nuggets

Edwards (MIN) establishes the ball in the frontcourt, but then steps back onto the midcourt line.

Foul: Defense 3 Second · 00:34.5

Nikola Jokic → Timberwolves

Jokic (DEN) is in the paint for longer than three seconds without imminently actively guarding an opponent.