Jaden McDaniels got more pushback from the Denver Nuggets and their fans as he heard constant boos from the crowd all evening.
All it did was embolden McDaniels, the antagonistic Minnesota Timberwolves forward who’s worked his way under the skin of Nuggets Nation through his words and his actions.
Following a 125-113 loss to Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series on Monday night, McDaniels insisted he wouldn’t be back in Denver anytime soon.
“We just ended up losing the day, but we’re going to win the next one,” said McDaniels, whose team leads the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Thursday night in Minnesota.
McDaniels labeled the Nuggets “all bad defenders” after Minnesota won Game 2. Denver didn’t have much of a response in the lead-up to Game 3 — or during the game itself.
On Saturday, McDaniels again drew the ire of the Nuggets — more specifically, Jokic — after violating an unwritten rule by scoring on a layup with the game already conceded. Jokic raced down the court and confronted him as players gathered around. The dustup resulted in ejections and fines but no suspensions.
This time, the Nuggets had a response. So did the Ball Arena crowd, which booed McDaniels each time he touched the ball.
“I love this environment, everyone hating me,” McDaniels said. “I feed into it. It just brings the best out of me.”
McDaniels finished with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting in just more than 27 minutes of action. He also had four of the Timberwolves’ 25 turnovers. The miscues may be understandable, though, as the team works on playing without Donte DiVincenzo (ruptured right Achilles tendon) and Anthony Edwards (knee).
“It’s really just the gravity they carry,” McDaniels said. “I feel like we still did a good job.”
At times, the game got a little chippy — and he was sometimes at the center of it. Such as in the fourth quarter with some pushing and words with Jonas Valanciunas, who’s 60 pounds heavier than McDaniels.
There was also Christian Braun hanging on the rim after a dunk and pointing in the direction of McDaniels. That drew Braun a technical and revved up the crowd.
“It’s all fun to me. I don’t really care. I feed into it,” McDaniels said. “We’ve just got to get the job done next game, and then there’s no more talking.”
