Jaden McDaniels added fresh fuel to a rivalry already thick with history after the Timberwolves beat the Nuggets in Denver on Monday night, April 20. Asked by a Minnesota Star Tribune questioner how Minnesota should attack Denver, McDaniels said, “Go at Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders. Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team. Like, just go at them.”
When pressed on whether he meant all of them were poor defenders, McDaniels answered, “They’re all bad defenders.” It was the kind of blunt postgame line that travels fast in the NBA, especially when it comes from one side of a series that has been building toward another round of tension.
The Wolves and Nuggets are meeting in their third playoff series in four years, and the teams have played each other 30 times over that span. The record is dead even at 15-15, which is part of why this matchup has taken on the feel of a full-fledged modern NBA rivalry. Game 3 is scheduled for Thursday night, April 23, at Target Center, with Minnesota carrying the noise of a road win and Denver carrying the sting of it.
Chris Finch spent practice Wednesday reiterating multiple times that the teams respect each other, a reminder that the edge in this series has not erased the professional regard between them. But McDaniels' comments landed because they spoke to something fans do not always get enough of in the league: a series with bite, a little chippiness, and a clear line between the teams.
Naz Reid put that feeling plainly when he said, “Who doesn’t love a big game?” and, “Who doesn’t want to wake up for a game with a lot of excitement, a lot of back and forth in it?” That is where this series sits now — with a tied history, a charged voice from Monday night, and a Timberwolves schedule that brings the next pressure point to Minneapolis on Thursday.
