Familiar foes will meet in the first round.

After securing the No. 3 seed with a 128-118 win on Sunday in San Antonio, the Nuggets will have home-court advantage against the Timberwolves. Game 1 is set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Ball Arena.

It will mark the third time in four years that Denver and Minnesota meet in the postseason.

In 2023, the Nuggets eliminated the Timberwolves in five games in a first-round series on the way to the championship. A year later, Minnesota eliminated the Nuggets in a seven-game series to reach the conference finals and end Denver’s back-to-back bid.

After winning the first two meetings of the season, Denver secured the regular-season series behind a nine-point comeback in overtime on Christmas. Minnesota won the most recent meeting, a nine-point victory on March 1 when Denver was without Aaron Gordon, Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones.

Watson and Jones missed Denver’s final game of the regular season on Sunday with hamstring strains. The Timberwolves recently had Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels return to the rotation.

Nuggets coach David Adelman got his start as an NBA coach with the Timberwolves in 2011 when his father, Rick, coached Minnesota. Denver’s executive vice president of player personnel, Jon Wallace, rejoined the Nuggets this season after serving in a similar role with the Timberwolves.

Minnesota is coached by Chris Finch, who spent a season in Denver as an assistant to Michael Malone, while the Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations, Tim Connelly, was previously an executive in Denver. Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori also spent a few seasons on Malone’s staff. Former Nuggets guard Bones Hyland, whom Connelly drafted with the 26th pick of the 2021 draft, is a reserve guard for the Timberwolves.