The Minnesota Timberwolves picked up a 112-96 Game 4 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, giving the Timberwolves a 3-1 series lead in the 2026 NBA Playoffs first-round matchup. It was an action-packed game where tensions boiled over at the end as Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels‘ final bucket of the game led to a team-wide scuffle, led by Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.
The Nuggets and Jokic believed McDaniels was trying to be disrespectful by attacking the basket for two more points when the result of the game was already decided. This is a long-standing sportsmanship belief in the NBA, with players usually getting angry at players who try to add additional points at the end of games. The game ended with Jokic and Julius Randle being ejected for the brawl.
McDaniels spoke to the media after the win in the locker room and sent a simple message as to why he kept trying to score when the result was already decided, and what happened that led to the clash with Jokic.
“No, I don’t know what he said. All I saw was someone that’s big as hell.”
“Nah, the clock still be running, so I’m about to go score… I don’t know, the game still had time on the clock for real… I feel what I said and I just come to hoop every night, it don’t really matter who we play against.”
McDaniels has been making headlines with aggressive comments about the Nuggets in this series, notably calling all their starters bad defenders by name after Game 2. As a result, many have presumed McDaniels is trying to get under the skin of his opponents, which looks like it’s been working so far.
McDaniels ended the game with 12 points (4-11 FG) and eight rebounds.
Timberwolves veteran Mike Conley also weighed in on McDaniels’ action and the post-game scuffle as the oldest NBA veteran across both teams. Conley believed he played a part in the incident because he gave McDaniels the ball and instantly realized that he would try to score instead of dribbling out the clock.
“(Laughs) nah that was a slip up, that’s all on me, I take the blame… As soon as I threw it, I looked, and I was like ‘ah, it’s Jaden.’ I almost put my hands on my head, and I was like, ‘Maybe he won’t,’ and then as soon as I saw him, when the ball kind of bounced a couple times, ‘It’s over, man.’ You can even see me lower my head.”
The Nuggets are the higher seed and have surprisingly fallen to this deficit despite Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards struggling with a knee injury and losing Donte DiVincenzo to an Achilles tear in Game 4.
McDaniels has averaged 15.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists this series, stepping up as the team’s most potent two-way perimeter threat with Edwards absent. While McDaniels likely won’t score 43 points as Ayo Dosunmu did in Game 4, he provides a solid baseline of two-way play with incredibly strong defense and a rapidly developing offensive repertoire.
McDaniels will likely try his best at instigating the Nuggets in Game 5 as well, especially after Jokic’s dismissive comments about McDaniels after the game. This Monday night clash will see the Nuggets fight with their season on the line, so the Wolves forward will have to ensure his on-court play continues at a high-level to secure a second-round berth.
