Jaden McDaniels was not interested in softening the edges after the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 119-114 in Game 2 on Monday night. He said the Nuggets were full of bad defenders, and he named Tim Hardaway Jr., Cam Johnson and Aaron Gordon in the aftermath of a win that evened the first-round playoff series at 1-1.
The comments landed in a series that has already become as much about words as possessions. Minnesota’s victory sent the teams into Wednesday with the matchup tied, and Game 3 was scheduled for Thursday in Minnesota.
By Wednesday, the response had started to take shape. Christian Braun said McDaniels was “kinda speaking his truth” and added that Denver would “allow them to do that,” while Johnson said the Timberwolves had been saying “a lot” and told them, “Let them talk. Let them get everything they want off their chest.”
David Adelman leaned into the exchange instead of retreating from it. Asked about McDaniels’ jab, the Nuggets coach said, “I can’t wait for his podcast,” and added, “It’ll help his social media.” He then pointed to Denver’s numbers, saying the Nuggets’ defensive rating in the series was 109, which he said ranked sixth best in the playoffs. When the question came back to the defense, Adelman cut it off with, “What’s our defensive rating in this series?” and, after hearing the answer, “How is that? Ok. Next.”
Gordon, who had already brushed off the criticism early Tuesday morning, was just as blunt. Asked about being called a bad defender, he said, “Brother, I don’t care.” That left the matchup where it started: tied 1-1, loud, and headed back to Minnesota with both teams having made their point.