Throughout the regular season, Donte DiVincenzo was used to being the one who had to set the tone for Minnesota with his effort and aggression.
“I think you gotta credit Jaden tonight,” DiVincenzo said after Minnesota’s 17-point victory. “He’s the one who really started off the energy … a couple days ago.”
The latter line came with a smile. McDaniels made headlines after the Wolves’ Game 2 win by calling each of the Nuggets players “bad defenders.” The wing’s bark pairs with plenty of bite. He backed up his bravado with a dominant performance, tallying 20 points and 10 rebounds on a night he also suffocated Denver star guard Jamal Murray with his lockdown defense.
“Spectacular to have that much energy,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “His activity offensively in the first quarter was outstanding, just to try to go get tips, loose balls, offensive rebounds, 50-50 plays, broken plays, all that kind of stuff was good.
“Defensively, he was outstanding tonight. I thought he was inspirational, no doubt.”
McDaniels noted he wanted to be “relentless” on the defensive end with Murray. He picked up the guard full court and served as Murray’s shadow throughout the affair.
Murray dominated the first game and a half of this first-round series, but he’s since been silenced. He finished just 5 for 17 from the field on Thursday, including his second game this series with zero made triples.
What’s flipped from the first six quarters of the series to the last six is McDaniels’ defensive intensity.
Finch used to call McDaniels Minnesota’s barometer because his offensive production was determined by the Wolves’ level of ball movement. That’s still true to a degree, but McDaniels is now also Minnesota’s tone setter.
That’s the case in multiple areas. His swagger and confidence – in the locker room and on the floor – permeate down the lineup. Like Anthony Edwards, McDaniels maintains a firm belief that he can take on anyone in any situation. He will not back down from a fight, nor an imposing defensive matchup assignment.
As the Wolves’ number of lockdown perimeter defenders has depleted, McDaniels is the go-to guy to fluster the opponent’s top perimeter scorer.
When he does so, Minnesota reaches different heights as a defense – heights that rival the top unit the Wolves were during the 2023-24 campaign.
Over the last two games, the Wolves are holding Denver – the NBA’s top offense this season – to just 102.9 points per 100 possessions.
In the first quarter of Game 3, Minnesota held the Nuggets to just 11 points on 3 for 21 shooting.
“They locked in and they were into the ball, everybody winning the battle that was right in front of them was really big, challenging everything, just making everything hard all the way around,” Finch said. “Came out and just set the tone, which is what we wanted to do here at home.”
Rudy Gobert said McDaniels was “locked in” Thursday in all the best ways, it was a “very emotionally sound game” from the wing. Which isn’t always true. In the Game 1 loss in Denver, McDaniels delivered a two-handed shove to Nikola Jokic’s back.
Finch called McDaniels “one of our most intense and ornery competitors.”
“Jaden is kind of crazy. We love him. That’s why we love him,” DiVincenzo said. “The one thing about Jaden, he’s always going to show up and compete.”
Which is why, in the wake of his critical comments regarding Denver’s defensive capabilities, Finch said he “didn’t have any worry that (McDaniels) wasn’t going to come out and try his darndest to back up whatever was said.”
“Saying things is neither here nor there,” Finch said. “You’ve got to go out and play the game, and he was special tonight.”