Nikola Jokic stats vs. Timberwolves: Why Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert might be answer to NBA's hardest problem

The Nuggets and Timberwolves meet again.

Last season, the two sides faced off in the first round of the playoffs, with Denver taking care of business in five games. This season, the Nuggets and Timberwolves will battle in the second round for a ticket to the Western Conference Finals.

This is a much better team than the one the Nuggets beat in 2023. Only one game separated them in the regular season standings, and Minnesota ran away with the best defense in the league, led by Defensive Player of the Year finalist Rudy Gobert.

That defense will be put to the ultimate test against Nikola Jokic, who will likely earn his third MVP award soon. The days of anyone being able to stop him are long gone, but the Timberwolves might have the best shot at slowing him down.

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Why Timberwolves might be NBA's best answer to Nikola Jokic

The Timberwolves have one big thing going for them — size.

Neither Mike Conley nor Anthony Edwards is particularly big for their position, but Minnesota starts three other big players in 6-9 Jaden McDaniels, 7-foot Karl-Anthony Towns, and 7-1 Gobert.

While McDaniels won't likely spend much time on Jokic, Towns and Gobert will. They defended Jokic an almost equal amount when the Timberwolves faced the Nuggets in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, according to the league's matchup data.

Jokic has a sizeable weight advantage, but both Towns and Gobert are slightly taller. Gobert also sports a 7-9 wingspan, making him one of the longest players on record.

The Timberwolves like to put Towns on Jokic and have Gobert guard Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon so that the Frenchman can play to his strengths.

Gobert is one of the best rim protectors in NBA history. He averages 2.1 blocks per game for his career, putting him behind only 21 players for the most all-time. That captures only a small part of his defensive value because he alters many, many more shots. For example, opponents shot 49.2 percent against Gobert at the basket in the 2023-24 season, which was 13.8 percentage points worse than expected. Scoring over him in the paint is no easy feat.

Gordon isn't necessarily a non-shooter, but he's a limited one. He attempted only 1.9 3-pointers per game during the 2023-24 season and connected on them at a 29.0 percent clip.

Gobert and the Timberwolves will likely live with Gordon settling for 3s if it means Jokic isn't getting easy looks around the basket and isn't kicking it out to better 3-point threats like Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, or Michael Porter Jr.

Whenever Jokic puts the ball on the floor, he should expect to see Gobert creeping over.

Gordon's limitations as a shooter are no secret. Teams will often give him space in the hopes of clogging the lane for Jokic and others, but Gordon knows how to punish them with timely cuts. The alley-oops Jokic likes to throw to him are just a bit more difficult when it's Gobert's long arms that he has to lob the ball over.

Towns' job will be staying in front of Jokic as best as possible and playing him physically without fouling. The last point is key, as Towns has struggled with foul trouble throughout his career. (Just ask Edwards.) The Timberwolves can't afford for him to pick up silly fouls in this series.

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Nikola Jokic stats vs. Timberwolves

So, here's the thing: Towns and Gobert do a nice job against Jokic, and Jokic still has a history of killing the Timberwolves.

When the Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves in five games in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs, Jokic averaged 26.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.0 assists while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3. His field goal percentage was dragged down by a miserable Game 5 that saw him shoot 8-for-29.

Towns appeared in only one of the four games between Minnesota and Denver in the 2023-24 season, but Gobert was available for three. Jokic dominated with 33.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game on 58.4 percent shooting from the field and 40.0 percent from 3.

Those numbers speak to how good Jokic is more than anything else. There doesn't appear to be anyone or anything in particular that can stop him anymore. It's more about making his and Denver's life as difficult as possible to have a shot at leveling the playing field against the defending champs.

With Towns and Gobert, the Timberwolves are equipped to do just that.