Will Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson play for the Nuggets in Game 3 against the Timberwolves? Injury update

2-0 down and on the road in Minnesota, the defending champions have found themselves in a bind as they head into Game 3 on Friday night. Add to that the potential absence of a key player and things start to look grim. Here’s what we know.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope & Reggie Jackson are on the injury report

Coming into the 2024 NBA playoffs, we knew that the Minnesota Timberwolves were one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA. Yet, we also ‘knew’ that they were going to face the defending champion Denver Nuggets i.e., it was going to be a serious test of their credentials. Let me be the first to say, we were wrong. After two games, the Nuggets are now trailing 2-0 in the series and if we’re honest, the reason is simply because the Timberwolves have been better. This brings us to the other problem that the Nuggets face: Injuries

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At the moment, the Nuggets have an uncomfortable number of players listed on the injury report ahead of Game 3 in their Eastern Conference semifinals. To be clear, there are four key players currently on the report with three of them listed as questionable and one ruled out. Firstly, we’ve got Jamal Murray who is questionable with a left calf strain, followed by Reggie Jackson who is questionable with a left calf contusion, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who is questionable with a right abdominal contusion, and finally, Vlatko Cancar who is out following an operation on his left knee. On a positive note, Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon have both been listed as available.

Conversely, the Minnesota Timberwolves have not a single player listed on their injury report. Though Rudy Gobert missed Game 2, that was due to the birth of his first child, meaning he will indeed play in Game 3. As for the two men of the moment, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, both have been listed as available for Friday’s game. This is all to say, that the odds are stacked against the Nuggets at this point. Truth be told, it’s going to take something special from the defending champions if they are to avoid going 3-0 down in a series that’s starting to look a lot more like a possible sweep. Do recall, the Nuggets lost Game 2 by 26 points, a fact that led head coach Michael Malone to admit that ‘they kicked our ass.’ The Nuggets will face the Timberwolves at 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday night. Don’t miss it!