Denver hosts Minnesota in Christmas day action

Audio By Carbonatix

Minnesota Timberwolves (20-10, fifth in the Western Conference) vs. Denver Nuggets (21-8, third in the Western Conference)

Denver; Thursday, 10:30 p.m. EST

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Nuggets -4.5; over/under is 237.5

BOTTOM LINE: The Denver Nuggets play the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Nuggets are 3-1 against division opponents. Denver is third in the league with 29.8 assists per game. Nikola Jokic leads the Nuggets averaging 10.9.

The Timberwolves are 4-3 against the rest of the division. Minnesota has a 6-7 record against teams over .500.

The Nuggets make 51.5% of their shots from the field this season, which is 6.0 percentage points higher than the Timberwolves have allowed to their opponents (45.5%). The Timberwolves are shooting 47.6% from the field, 0.6% higher than the 47.0% the Nuggets' opponents have shot this season.

The teams square off for the third time this season. The Nuggets won the last matchup 123-112 on Nov. 16, with Jokic scoring 27 points in the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jamal Murray is shooting 49.9% and averaging 25.1 points for the Nuggets. Jokic is averaging 29.0 points over the last 10 games.

Rudy Gobert is shooting 73.1% and averaging 11.5 points for the Timberwolves. Anthony Edwards is averaging 4.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Nuggets: 7-3, averaging 126.1 points, 41.0 rebounds, 30.4 assists, 7.9 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 52.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 119.3 points per game.

Timberwolves: 8-2, averaging 117.2 points, 46.0 rebounds, 26.2 assists, 8.4 steals and 5.5 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 112.2 points.

INJURIES: Nuggets: Cameron Johnson: day to day (knee), Christian Braun: out (ankle), Aaron Gordon: out (hamstring).

Timberwolves: Joe Ingles: day to day (personal), Jaden McDaniels: day to day (oblique).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.