In a surprising turn of events, the Minnesota Timberwolves stunned the defending champions by defeating the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals, seizing home-court advantage. BD Cricket Live entertainment reporters believe this upset sent a loud and clear message to the rest of the league. The Wolves may appear unassuming, but they’ve proven to be resilient and strong. Thanks to a few extra days of rest, Minnesota entered the series with fresher legs, while the Nuggets, still recovering from a grueling battle with the Lakers, looked sluggish across the board.
It’s now clear that this series won’t be smooth sailing for Denver. In fact, the Timberwolves might have a better shot at reaching the Western Conference Finals. This isn’t just because Anthony Edwards is playing like an unstoppable force, but also because Minnesota’s overall roster is well-equipped to counter the Nuggets. Edwards has rightfully earned praise for breaking records and delivering electric performances—so much so that many fans and analysts are calling him the modern-day Michael Jordan. At just 22 years old, he has become the face of a new generation of American basketball stars.
However, as Karl-Anthony Towns and others have pointed out, the Wolves’ success isn’t just about Edwards. His ability to shine is made possible by the strong team behind him. While his offensive output dazzled, it was Minnesota’s defensive execution that truly turned heads. Denver’s two-man game with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray dismantled the Lakers’ interior defense in Round 1, but against Minnesota, they looked completely out of sync. It wasn’t just Jokic and Murray—players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr., who had their way against the Lakers, were neutralized by the Timberwolves’ stifling defense.
The reason is simple: the Lakers were physically outmatched. Aside from Conley, most of the Timberwolves’ rotation features bigger, stronger forwards. Even Edwards, as a guard, plays with the strength and physicality of a frontcourt player. Minnesota’s triple-tower lineup—Gobert, Towns, and Naz Reid—exhausted Jokic with non-stop physicality, resembling a three-on-one siege. No matter how dominant Jokic is, being battered by three bigs for 48 minutes took a toll. Compare that to the Lakers, who primarily relied on Anthony Davis, occasionally aided by LeBron James and Rui Hachimura.
A single big man supported by two forwards just doesn’t match up to a dual-center defense. Minnesota’s strategy proves that to slow down Denver, the ideal solution is a physically imposing twin-tower lineup. The Lakers, despite having Davis, lacked a true bruiser next to him. What the Timberwolves and Nuggets are showing in this postseason is that the era of guard-heavy lineups is over. BD Cricket Live analysts observe that size now matters more than ever—teams with dominant frontcourts are the ones going deeper into the playoffs.
The Nuggets have eliminated the Lakers two years in a row by exploiting that size mismatch. Now the Timberwolves are using the same blueprint to gain an edge over Denver. This highlights how outdated the Lakers’ roster construction has become. It’s 2025, and Darvin Ham is still trotting out three-guard lineups against all-forward rotations. The Lakers tried to adjust by signing wings last offseason to counter Denver, but those additions lacked durability and physicality. As the season wore on, only LeBron, Davis, and Hachimura remained reliable up front.
Worse yet, the Lakers’ front office reverted to old habits, chasing guards in free agency while ignoring their lack of interior depth. As the saying goes, what’s lost is best left as a memory—yet the Lakers couldn’t let go of their flawed approach. When the playoffs arrived, Davis was the lone reliable big man, often forced into mismatched lineups featuring three guards. Watching the Timberwolves dismantle the Nuggets, BD Cricket Live reporters believe the Lakers’ front office should finally understand what kind of roster they need to build this offseason.