Jaden McDaniels Praised by Wolves HC After Backing Up Trash Talk in Win vs. Nuggets

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch complimented forward Jaden McDaniels after the team advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a 110-98 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 6.

"He talked all series and he backed it up all series," Finch told reporters after the victory. "That's called legitimate tough. He not only led us tonight scoring-wise, but Murray was 4-for-17 and I don't think he scored on Jaden the whole game. So, that's what you want."

McDaniels previously called out the Nuggets' defense following Minnesota's Game 2 win.

"Go after Jokić, Jamal, all the bad defenders," McDaniels said April 20, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). "Tim Hardaway [Jr.], Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team, just go at them."

"Yeah, they're all bad defenders," he added.

McDaniels ended up scoring a game-high 32 points against the Nuggets on Friday. He also recorded 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block.

McDaniels shot 13-of-25 from the field, which included a pull-up jump shot that gave Minnesota a 105-98 lead with just over one minute left in the fourth quarter.

It was an exceptional performance from the 25-year-old, especially considering the Timberwolves were missing key rotation players including Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu due to injuries.

McDaniels ended the six-game series win over Denver with averages of 17.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 0.7 blocks per game while connecting on 49.4 percent of his field-goal attempts.