One player was clearly the biggest winner of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ win on Thursday over the Denver Nuggets.
The T-Wolves were down three of their top-scoring guards in Game 6 of their first-round series at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. But as Anthony Edwards famously touted, the home team had Jaden McDaniels.
McDaniels talked a lot of smack after Game 2, ridiculing Denver for supposedly having a team full of poor defenders. He let his play do the talking in Game 6.
The 25-year-old swingman was arguably the best player on the floor on Thursday, and that’s in a contest that included Nikola Jokic. McDaniels finished with 32 points and 10 rebounds on 13/25 shooting, while also clamping up Murray like he was prime Kawhi Leonard.
Fans and media members alike were quick to praise McDaniels for backing up every word that he said throughout the series.
Jaden McDaniels talked it and walked it and the only time he smiled was when Jokic grabbed him at the end of game 4.
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) May 1, 2026
Jaden McDaniels is having a top 3 aura moment in basketball history
— RB (Ringless Bitch) (@RyB_311) May 1, 2026
Unfathomable levels of backing it up by Jaden McDaniels
— Adam Nayman (@brofromanother) May 1, 2026
McDaniels was draped on Murray all night, holding the Nuggets star to just 12 points on 4/17 shooting. That’s a championship-caliber guard known for playoff heroics that McDaniels took out of the game.
Murray was helpless to stop McDaniels on the other end, as the lanky forward just shot over the top of him every time down the floor.
For as loud as Nuggets fans booed McDaniels in Game 5, the cheers he heard in Minnesota were even louder.
