Stone Cold Timberwolf Drags Nuggets Defense – “They’re All Bad Defenders”

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NBA: Playoffs-Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets
Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

For most of 3.5 quarters of basketball on Monday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves looked like they would fall behind 0-2 in round one of the NBA Playoffs to the Denver Nuggets, especially early when they fell behind 39-25 going into the second quarter.

But the midnight Wolves showed some fire and resolve in game two, that they couldn’t muster in game one. They also came with a physicality that even the Nuggets couldn’t match. When the dust settled, Minnesota walked away with a 119-115 victory and a series tied at 1-1.

Minnesota Timberwolves vs Nuggets and Referees (Pt. 2)

The refs let both teams play most of the game, but there were random moments where the Nuggets would flop or go to the basket and get some head-scratching calls. The late fouls (below) called on Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert were especially difficult to come to terms with.

Of course, the Wolves share plenty of the blame for the lopsided whistles during this series. Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Naz Reid… they’re constantly arguing with referees and throwing their hands up in the air with disgust. Then again, so do Nuggets players.

And really, there is a pretty solid reason why Jokic, Murray and the Denver Nuggets are looking for cheap ways to get out of playing defense — They aren’t good at it.

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The Nuggets rank last of all playoff teams in defensive rating this season (117.2), and mostly because they can’t defend the paint, allowing opponents to shoot the 6th-highest percentage (.732) from 0-3 feet away from the rim during the regular season and 3rd-highest percentage (.492) on shots from 3-10 feet out.

Jaden McDaniels drags Nuggets defense

But while the whole league knows it, nobody says it quite like Jaden McDaniels. After the Wolves’ win Monday, the 25-year-old prideful defender told reporters at his locker that he needs to go at the Nuggets more, when he’s playing offense.

Why? Because the Nuggets are a team built with bad defenders. Not one, not two, not three, not four… but a bunch of bad defenders — and Jaden listed most of them off by name, before admitting that its a team-wide problem in Denver: “They’re all bad defenders.”

Reporter: “What was the key offensively, to getting in a rhythm today?,

McDaniels: “Go at Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders. Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team. Just go at them.”

Reporter: “They’re all bad defenders?”

McDaniels: “Yeah, they’re all bad defenders.”

“They don’t got people that can defend the rim, and if he is there, we’re still more athletic than them. Just gotta be able to finish…if you just break the paint, you’re gonna have a shot or someone else is gonna be open.”

Jaden McDaniels after game two win over Nuggets

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McDaniels needs to take his own advice. Because, if he truly believes what he’s saying , then he should have put up way more than 14 points on a Nuggets team that, when he did get aggressive and move downhill, indeed could not stop him from getting to the rim or getting an easy shot/free throw attempts.

Now, he just has to take that mentality into game three with more consistency through all four quarters.

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