MINNEAPOLIS – Jaden McDaniels had 32 points and 10 rebounds and Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 24 points in a surprising start to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ upset 110-98 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 on Thursday night that ended another tight NBA series between the rivals.
With their top three guards out due to injury, the Timberwolves thrived with Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Naz Reid posting a 64-40 advantage in points in the paint and a 50-33 edge in rebounding.
“This is what you can’t really teach. This is about will. It’s about heart, and that’s how we were able to overcome this big challenge,” said Gobert, who had 10 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
Minnesota, the No. 1 seed 6 in the Western Conference, will begin the second round in San Antonio on Monday.
The second-seeded Spurs swept Portland in five games in their first-round series.
Nikola Jokic had 28 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds to lead the Nuggets, but winger Jamal Murray struggled to break free from McDaniels and finished with just 12 points on 4-for-17 shooting.
Cameron Johnson scored 27 points to lead Denver’s 10-for-27 night from deep, but Jokic’s 3-pointers weren’t enough to keep up with an aggressive Timberwolves team.
“I’m just glad it’s over, I’m glad we were able to come out on top,” said McDaniels. “Said. I’m glad we were all able to prove our point, get the win, and move on to the next round.”
With Ayo Dosunmu joining Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo on the inactive list, the Timberwolves have been missing a lot of their shot-making talent.
Winning this game would require extra doses of defense and energy, and they delivered both. Shannon added an element of pure speed that the Nuggets could stop when he found space toward the basket. McDaniels, embracing the villain role, was a beast on both ends of the floor.
The Timberwolves feed the roaring crowd at every turn and always make up for their lost offense with hustle and desire.
Shannon’s three-point play with 1:43 left gave the Timberwolves a six-point lead, and McDaniels followed with a sword — his signature mid-range pull-up was a 19-yard swish to make it a seven-point game with 1:06 to play.
He then intercepted Jokic with a hard pass to get the ball back and start the show at the line.
Since beating the Timberwolves in five games in the first round and heading to the NBA championship in 2023, the Nuggets have never found the production or consistency they needed to complement three-time MVP Jokic.
They extended the streak with a decisive win in Game 5 on Monday, but Minnesota’s defense brought it back this postseason by keeping Jokic out and Murray thinking.
McDaniels relentlessly chased him around the ring. Four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year winner Gobert kept giving Jokic a hard time in the paint with his long arms and great anticipation.
McDaniels threw some extra spice into this well-developed rivalry early in the series with his “bad defense” outfit cheering on the Nuggets, and none of the Timberwolves have made a secret of their distaste for their opponents.
Then their motivation went off the charts when DiVincenzo went down in the first minute of Game 4, and their franchise player Edwards followed him on the injured list.
When the fourth quarter was stopped, DiVincenzo was shown with a big smile as he sat with his foot on the back of the bench.
