To open Game 1 of the Minnesota Timberwolves playoff series, Head Coach Chris Finch chose to defend Denver Nuggets superstar and two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokiu0107 with Karl-Anthony Towns as the primary defender. While Towns is overmatched defending Jokiu0107 one-on-one, this was designed so that Rudy Gobert could help off of Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon to provide an extra line of defense at the rim.
The Wolves have leaned into this alignment more often since the trade deadline, using both Towns and Kyle Anderson as the primary defender on bigs like Jokiu0107, Joel Embiid, and Anthony Davis, with Gobert providing weak-side rim protection.