“Now he’s gotta back it up,” Chris Finch said as he sat at the pregame podium before game three.
A clear challenge to his two-way trash-talking wing Jaden McDaniels to show up after calling every single Denver Nuggets rotation player by name as a bad defender, the stage was set for the Wolves’ best perimeter defender to take himself to a new level on a national stage, or reveal he may not be ready for it.
Man, did the first option become a reality.
It was from the jump. An utter dismantling of Denver
that saw the Wolves get out to an early 12-4 lead had the fingerprints of McDaniels and Rudy Gobert all over it.
On the back of another strong start defensively for his defensive counterpart in Gobert, McDaniels led the Wolves in first quarter points with 9, and added 4 rebounds on to get things rolling.
It would prove to be a necessary endeavor. Anthony Edwards was not himself shooting the basketball, with many of his jumpshots landing short. Despite attempts to get himself going, he was most effective at attacking the basket, and he had plenty of help on his team to offset that workload.
