Jaden McDaniels 100% gave the Denver Nuggets bulletin-board material when he said “they’re all bad defenders,” but he might be right — and there’s nothing Denver can do about it.
McDaniels, deadpanned as usual, was asked after Minnesota’s thrilling Game 2 win Monday night what the keys were to finding an offensive rhythm after falling behind by 19 points in the second quarter.
“Go after Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders. Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team. Just go at them,” McDaniels said.
Are they all bad defenders? “Yeah, they’re all bad defenders,” McDaniels answered.
Johnson’s defensive rating in Game 2 was a horrific 121.0. Gordon, known as an elite defender, wasn’t much better at 112.3. Jokic posted a 109.1 defensive rating, while Murray (109.7) and Hardaway (112.5) weren’t very good either. Even Bruce Brown, who is typically an excellent defender, finished Game 2 with a 137.1 defensive rating in 16:28 off the bench.
The Wolves hit 10 of 19 shots when Gordon was the primary defender, and they went 7 of 12 against Murray and 6 of 12 against Hardaway, according to NBA Stats. Minnesota made 7 of 11 three-pointers when Johnson and Gordon were documented as the primary defenders.
After settling for threes and long jumpers during Denver’s big run to a 44-25 lead, the Wolves switched gears and began a relentless pursuit of getting to the rim. It changed the course of the game, and the Nuggets couldn’t do anything to stop Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Naz Reid, Ayo Dosunmu, and McDaniels.
“They don’t got people that can defend the rim, and if he (Jokic) is there, we’re still more athletic than them, and we just gotta be able to finish when we do,” McDaniels said.
Minnesota attempted 41% of its shots at the rim, and one would imagine that that number will be even higher in Game 3, Thursday night at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, the Wolves played high-end defense, with McDaniels, Rudy Gobert, and Julius Randle leading the effort. When you isolate the numbers based on one-on-one matchups, two really stick out: Jokic was 1 of 8 from the field against Gobert, and Murray shot 3 of 9 when McDaniels was on him.
Check out the Nuggets’ overall shooting percentages against McDaniels, Gobert, and Randle:
McDaniels: 38.9% (7 of 18)Gobert: 26.7% (4 of 15)Randle: 38.5% (5 of 13)
Minnesota has the personnel to slow down elite offensive teams like Denver. Sometimes, however, a great offense is better than a capable defense, and you can only tip your cap. But the fastest way to get bounced from the playoffs is to be a sieve on defense, and if McDaniels is right about Denver being terrible, then the Nuggets are in big trouble.
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