Minnesota @ Denver preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 27, 2017 ) Denver 125, Minnesota 128

The battle for a playoff spot in the Western Conference promises to go down to the final games of the regular season, and the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets plan to be in the mix. The Nuggets will try to jump into the top eight at the expense of the Timberwolves when they host Minnesota on Thursday.

Denver won its last three games by a total of seven points to pull within a half-game of the eighth-place New Orleans Pelicans entering play on Wednesday and will play its final four games against playoff contenders from the West, including a pair against the Timberwolves. "We can’t play like it's life and death, because we're gonna die a lot," Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters. "... I want our guys to play free, to enjoy and embrace the moment and what we're involved in right now." The Timberwolves are trying to play loose as well but are struggling against winning teams and got rocked at home by the Utah Jazz in a 121-97 loss on Sunday. "I'm not sure I've ever seen the West like this time," Minnesota 18-year veteran Jamal Crawford told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I've seen it go down to the last day, matchup-wise. But you lose a few in a row and you can be on the outside looking in. It’s definitely different."

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT, FS North (Minnesota)

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (44-34): Minnesota is expecting to get a boost down the stretch from All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler, who went through his first full-contact practice on Tuesday since undergoing surgery on his on his right knee five weeks ago. The Timberwolves are 8-8 since Butler went down and he is looking to bring some much-needed toughness to the team. "We just gotta get tougher," Butler told reporters. "We gotta play like some dogs with a sense of urgency. Teams just do whatever they want against us. I don’t like it. Ain't no coach in the world that can make somebody play hard. Ain't no coach in the world that can make anybody want it. Right now, in the position we are ... we gotta realize that as a whole, we got to go out there and be the tougher team every single night, every single possession."

ABOUT THE NUGGETS (43-35): Denver's playoff push is being led by center Nikola Jokic, who is averaging 24.5 points on 56.1 percent shooting, 10.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists over the last 14 games. Jokic delivered 30 points while going 4-of-6 from 3-point range in Tuesday's 107-104 win over the Indiana Pacers. "What he does every single night, and how efficiently he does it, there's not many players that do that," Malone told reporters. "Obviously, he's Nikola Jokic, we're Denver, so nobody is going to talk about it. But he's an incredible player. We ask him to do so much for this team, as a third-year player, trying to carry this team. ... He accepts it. He embraces it, and he goes out and does it almost every night at a very high level."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Timberwolves C Karl-Anthony Towns is 1-of-11 from 3-point range in the last two games.

2. Nuggets SG Will Barton is 4-of-21 from 3-point range over the last four games.

3. Minnesota took the first two meetings this season with Butler averaging 32 points on 51.4 percent shooting.

PREDICTION: Nuggets 121, Timberwolves 117