Jaden McDaniels had 32 points and 10 rebounds and Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 24 points in a surprise start for the injury-ravaged Minnesota Timberwolves in a 110-98 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 on Thursday night that finished off another tense NBA playoff series between the rivals.With their top three guards out because of injuries, the Timberwolves went big with Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Naz Reid fueling a 64-40 advantage in points in the paint and a 50-33 edge in rebounding.
Minnesota, the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, will start the second round at San Antonio on Monday. The second-seeded Spurs beat Portland in five games in their first-round series.
Nikola Jokic had 28 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds to lead the Nuggets, but sidekick Jamal Murray struggled to get 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 and the 3-pointers simply weren’t enough to keep up with a fiercely motivated Timberwolves team.
With Ayo Dosunmu joining Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo on the inactive list, the Timberwolves were missing a big chunk of their ability to create shots.
Winning this game was going to require extra doses of defense and energy, and they brought both. Shannon added an element of pure speed that the Nuggets couldn’t stop when he found space toward the basket. McDaniels, embracing the villain role, was a monster on both ends of the court. The Timberwolves fed off the roaring crowd at every turn and consistently made up for their missing 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 the dagger shot — his signature midrange pull-up was a swish from 19 feet to make it a seven-point game with 1:06 to play. Then he intercepted a harried pass by Jokic to get the ball back and start a parade to the free throw line.
Since beating the Timberwolves in five games in the first round and cruising to the NBA championship in the 2023, the Nuggets haven’t found the production or spunk they’ve needed to supplement the three-time MVP Jokic. They extended the series with a decisive win in Game 5 on Monday, but Minnesota’s defense delivered again this postseason in neutralizing Jokic and rendering Murray an afterthought.