Nikola Jokic, Jaden McDaniels Discuss Heated Altercation on Video After Wolves Go Up 3-1 on Nuggets

A physical altercation involving multiple players broke out near the end of the Minnesota Timberwolves' 112-96 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday night.

Nuggets star Nikola Jokić took exception to Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels taking a layup with his team holding a 14-point lead and under 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter, running down the court to confront him.

Players from both teams eventually got involved, as Jokić and Minnesota's Julius Randle were both ejected from the game.

McDaniels gave his perspective on the incident following the victory.

"Clock still be running," McDaniels told reporters. "So I'm about to go score."

Jokić also told reporters he doesn't regret the altercation "because he scored after everybody stopped playing."

Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert also gave his thoughts on the altercation.

"It's the playoffs, man," Gobert said in an interview after the win. "The game's still going, he has the ball in his hands. To me, nothing much to be mad about."

The Timberwolves took a 3-1 series lead over Denver with the victory.

Nuggets head coach David Adelman didn't seem to appreciate McDaniels' late basket either.

"I didn't like what McDaniels did," Adelman said in his postgame press conference. "The game was over, the game was conceded both ways. In 2026 that stuff just doesn't happen anymore. That's something that happens in the 80s where teams would continue to score but that's who he is. So if that's what they wanna do, that's what they wanna do."

McDaniels finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and one block in the win. He shot 4-of-11 from the field.

As for Jokić, he scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to go along with nine assists. The three-time MVP shot just 8-of-22 on field goals and 0-of-3 on triples, though.

It's worth noting that McDaniels previously called out several Nuggets players and said they were "all bad defenders" following the Timberwolves' 119-114 victory over Denver in Game 2 of the series.

Both teams are familiar with each other in the playoffs, as the Nuggets took down Minnesota in five games during the 2022-23 season.

The following year, the Timberwolves wrapped up a second-round series victory over Denver in seven games.

Now, the Nuggets will need to come back from a 3-1 series deficit in order to avoid another playoff elimination at the hands of Minnesota.