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Nuggets try to snare West's 6th seed in Minnesota

Apr 26, 2012 - 2:51 PM (Sports Network) - The Denver Nuggets are headed to the postseason and are not sure who their opponent will be.

The Nuggets can lock up the sixth seed with a win tonight, but could also drop to the seventh spot with a loss coupled by a Dallas win in Atlanta. Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Lakers are the two teams Denver may face in the upcoming playoffs.

Denver will try to stay on the right track when it visits the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday and has won three straight and seven of nine games, including Wednesday's 106-101 road triumph over the Thunder. Ty Lawson had 25 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Arron Afflalo added 15 points, Danilo Gallinari scored 14 and Kenneth Faried had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

"I think everybody feels like we are playing our best basketball right now," said Denver coach George Karl.

Karl's squad has won three straight on the road and is 17-15 as the visitor this season.

Minnesota is playing out the string and hasn't reached the playoffs since the 2003-04 campaign. It has dropped 12 of 13 games and suffered a 93-88 loss versus Golden State on Sunday.

Nikola Pekovic registered 19 points and 16 rebounds, and Martell Webster scored 18 points for the Timberwolves, who have lost seven in a row in the Twin Cities.

"They got whatever they wanted and we took bad shot after bad shot," Minnesota forward Michael Beasley said of the Warriors.

The Wolves have been without top point guard Ricky Rubio (knee) and All-Star forward/center Kevin Love (concussion), and are 13-19 as the host. The last time Minnesota prevailed at Target Center was a 117-100 decision over Denver on March 25. The Nuggets have won two of three meetings with the Northwest Division-rival Timberwolves this season and 19 of the last 22 encounters.

Minnesota snapped an eight-game slide as the host in this series with the aforementioned 17-point victory. Denver has still won 10 of 12 as the guest.