Ryan Saunders and the Nuggets could leave the series against Minnesota with the last laugh.

Saunders is the son of the late Flip Saunders, who tops the Timberwolves franchise chart for wins by a coach with 427. Minnesota’s current coach, Chris Finch, is second on that list with 104 wins heading into Sunday’s Game 4 against the Nuggets. Ryan Saunders sits a couple of spots lower, amassing 43 wins as coach of the Timberwolves.

After joining the Timberwolves as an assistant in 2014, he started as an interim coach in the wake of Tom Thibodeau’s firing during the 2018-19 season but shed that title ahead of the next season. He was the youngest head coach in the NBA during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season and was fired after a poor start to the following season.

“When you talk about Ryan in this building, you think of his father, Flip, and his legacy and what he meant to so many people. Ryan, following in his footsteps, got a chance to be the head coach here,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said prior to Sunday’s game. “It didn’t work out. It was an easy decision to bring him on board.”

Saunders filled the role of de facto defensive coordinator vacated by Jordi Fernandez when he joined Mike Brown’s staff in Sacramento in the offseason. The Nuggets finished the regular season with the 15th best defensive rating – right in the middle of the league. That figure would likely be closer to 10 if not for the Nuggets lackluster close to the regular season where they allowed 128 points to the Spurs, 125 points to the Raptors and 124 points to the Rockets – all teams that missed the playoffs.

“He knows the (Timberwolves) players, but he’s been really good the whole year. I think we did a really good job, especially in spurts, this year,” Christian Braun said at Sunday morning’s shootaround.

“This whole year, we’ve gone into games knowing teams’ tendencies and knowing what players do. Obviously, with this team, coach Saunders really knows what he’s doing.”

Using Aaron Gordon as a back-up center is one wrinkle the Nuggets have successfully utilized against Minnesota’s dueling 7-footers, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. Saunders coached Towns and Anthony Edwards, Minnesota’s star guard, while Gobert was acquired in the offseason. With Gordon at the five, the Nuggets can switch defenders on every screen, something they can’t with Nikola Jokic on the court.

“That lineup has gone to a heavy volume of switching, which has troubled us through the season, not just in this series,”  Finch said pregame.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope first met Saunders when he played for the Wizards the last two seasons. After losing his job in Minnesota, Caldwell-Pope said Saunders spent a few days in Washington before the two reunited in Denver this season.

“He’s been great. Just lets us know, the players he’s coached and how they are, their tendencies – what they do best, what they do worse,” Caldwell-Pope said at shootaround.

“He’s been great for us defensive wise, getting us in position, being organized and making sure we’re ready.”

When the Nuggets coach was asked what he would like to carry from the first three games into Game 4, Malone started with the defensive effort. The Nugget started the series allowing Minnesota just 80 points in Game 1 and gave up 113 and 111 in the next two games, both below the Timberwolves regular-season average of 115.8.

Saunders isn’t the only Nuggets assistant with a history in Minnesota. David Adelman – son of Rick Adelman, who coached the Timberwolves from 2012-14 – spent the 2015-16 season as a Timberwolves assistant before later joining Malone’s staff.

“I think Ryan and DA’s history with the T’Wolves and with guys like Karl and or Anthony, that can only help shine some light on the best ways to attack them both offensively and defensively,” Malone said.