Mcdaniels Timberwolves Need Jaden McDaniels' Shot to Hold Denver
mcdaniels timberwolves have gotten the right kind of value from Jaden McDaniels in their series against the Denver Nuggets, but the one part of his game that carried him through the regular season has gone cold. He has averaged 15 points per game and shot 48.4 percent from the field, yet he has made only one of his 14 postseason 3-point attempts.
That split has left Minnesota with a clear problem in a series where spacing already is thin. Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo are out of the picture, Rudy Gobert is not a floor spacer, Julius Randle is not known for his 3-point shooting, and Mike Conley can shoot without creating his own looks very well from beyond the arc.
McDaniels vs. Denver
McDaniels has turned himself into the villain of the series against Denver, and he has backed it up with production on both ends. He called out the Nuggets' starting lineup by name and said they cannot defend, then kept pressing as the matchup moved through Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and David Adelman.
The defense has been there. McDaniels has held Murray to 34.1 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range in the series. That is the cleanest sign that Minnesota has gotten real two-way value from him even as the jumper has vanished.
Game 5 Foul Trouble
There has been one consistent test for McDaniels in this matchup: stay out of foul trouble early. He can usually deliver a good game on both sides if he escapes the first quarter with one foul or less, but Game 5 put him on a different path almost immediately.
He picked up two fouls in the first couple of minutes of Game 5, and Minnesota challenged the second one. The call stood, which put more pressure on a Timberwolves team already missing the shot-making that normally helps his value show up on the scoreboard.
The regular season showed what Minnesota wants from him. McDaniels shot 41.2 percent from 3-point range then, so the drop to one make in 14 postseason tries is the gap that hangs over the series now. If that number stays low, the Timberwolves have to keep surviving on defense and on the kind of scoring he has still been able to supply without the three-ball.
