After coming back from 19 points down a mile up in Denver on Monday, at times flummoxing three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić and All-Star sidekick Jamal Murray with lockdown defense, the Minnesota Timberwolves let their guard down.
The Wolves were unfiltered in the aftermath of their Game 2 victory, which tied a first-round playoff series that’s stoked the flames of a burgeoning NBA rivalry. They spoke candidly following the 119-114 win, both at the podium and in the locker room.
Anthony Edwards was amusingly hard on himself despite leading the team with 30 points and 10 rebounds. He and other members of the team went to bat for four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, who wasn’t even a finalist for the award this season. And Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels went as far as to say that the Nuggets are “all bad defenders.”
Edwards got the ball rolling with an amusingly harsh response to his stat line.
“I’m ass, bruh,” he said. “F***.”
Edwards shot 10-of-25 from the field, including just 3-of-11 from beyond the arc. But in addition to his double-double, he accounted for two assists, two blocks and one steal, all while playing 40 minutes and navigating a right knee issue.
The four-time All-Star guard missed 11 of Minnesota’s final 14 regular-season games. His status was up in the air for the Wolves’ first playoff games. Plus, he appeared to tweak his knee early in Game 2 on Monday. Despite his grit, he isn’t satisfied.
“That s***’s ass,” Edwards said of his box score, when asked about his displeasure postgame. “I missed 15 shots tonight, two free throws. I’ll be better.”
As for how he’s doing injury-wise?
“It’s been like a month and a half since I played basketball. I missed it,” Edwards said. “It’s the most fun I have in my entire life. Just being out there, man, I’m enjoying every moment, no matter how I feel. So it’s good.”
For what it’s worth, Edwards’ head coach, Chris Finch, unsurprisingly had a much different take on his superstar’s performance.
“He was awesome, man. Unbelievable,” Finch said. “Also in that period when we were down, he was great on the bench — great leadership, positive. He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.”
‘It’s a joke that he wasn’t a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year’
While Gobert finished with only two points on 1-of-4 shooting and seven rebounds, long hampered by foul trouble, he starred when it mattered most on Monday night.
The 33-year-old, French center put on a defensive masterclass, playing a sizable role in Jokić — a career 56.1% shooter — making just 8-of-20 field-goal attempts in Game 2.
Gobert, instrumental in the Timberwolves’ run to back-to-back Western Conference finals, was on his A-game during the fourth quarter. In that frame, the three-time All-Star big man limited Jokić to 1-of-7 shooting. Entering the quarter with a three-point deficit Wolves outscored the Nuggets 29-21 in the fourth, leaving Ball Arena victorious.
San Antonio Spurs wunderkind Victor Wembanyama wearing the DPOY crown this season isn’t a shock to anyone. He’s even the league’s first unanimous winner of the award.
What offended Minnesota was that Gobert wasn’t even a finalist for the honor. He clocked out fourth, 19 points behind third place, which was occupied by Detroit Pistons wing Ausar Thompson.
Finch interrupted a postgame question Monday about Gobert often receiving flak.
“I mean, it’s a joke that he wasn’t a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year.”
Finch soon added: “I thought it was incredibly disrespectful. … We didn’t help him. We had mixed results coming down the stretch. If we were a little better, and we feel we let Rudy down in that way — but he’s an outstanding defender.
“He’s an outstanding professional, he’s an outstanding human, he’s about the right things. And it’s just laughable and small-minded and petty, all the crap that people decide to give Rudy.”
Edwards shot it straight when illustrating Gobert’s value to the team.
“I told him in the locker room just now before I came in here,” Edwards recounted. “Like, ‘Brother, we are half the team when you’re on the bench. It’s just that simple.’
“Everybody gonna say this about Rudy, ‘He’s this, he’s that.’ They don’t understand what he means to us when he’s on the floor. People don’t want to lay the ball up around him. People just don’t want to go at Rudy. Regardless of what they say about him on the offensive end of the floor, he’s a four-time Defensive Player of the Year for a reason.”
Gobert was asked if he had any extra juice in Game 2 after he saw the DPOY voting results. He said that wasn’t necessarily the case.
“I know who I am,” he said, per The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Chris Hine.
“Not the first time I get disrespected, probably not the last. I’m going to keep being myself. If they want to disrespect greatness, you can just take it for granted, whatever. Sooner or later, they realize the impact.”
‘They’re all bad defenders’
The Nuggets wrapped the regular season outside the top 20 in defensive rating. In fact, they entered the postseason with the lowest defensive rating of any playoff team this season.
Denver especially struggled to protect the rim Monday. Once Edwards, and his teammates, flipped into “attack mode,” the scale began to tip.
Afterward, forward Jaden McDaniels, who collected 14 points in the win, called out the Nuggets’ defense. He was asked what worked for the Timberwolves offensively.
“Go at Jokić, Jamal, all the bad defenders,” McDaniels said, via Hine. “Tim Hardaway [Jr.], Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team — just go at ’em.”
Following up, a reporter asked, “They’re all bad defenders?”
“Yeah, they’re all bad defenders,” McDaniels said bluntly.
There’s no love lost between the Wolves and the Nuggets. Minnesota left Denver with the series tied and plenty to say.
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