Nuggets coach calls out Timberwolves' Jaden McDaniels for layup that led to altercation with Nikola Jokić

The Nuggets took offense to Jaden McDaniels' scoring as time expired in a game that was already decided
Jaden McDaniels has been needling the Denver Nuggets throughout their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves .

After Minnesota's Game 2 win, McDaniels was asked what was working for the Timberwolves offensively.

"Go after [Nikola] Jokić, Jamal [Murray], all the bad defenders," McDaniels said .

"Tim Hardaway.

Cam Johnson.

Aaron Gordon .

The whole team.

Just go at them.

...They're all bad defenders."
The rest of the series, to this point, hasn't exactly disproven his point.

The Timberwolves have now won three games in a row in the series and are one win shy of advancing to the second round.

On Saturday, the Timberwolves lost Donte DiVincenzo to a torn Achilles and Anthony Edwards to a knee injury, but still managed to win with backup guard Ayo Dosunmu scoring 43 points, the second-most bench points ever in a playoff game.

To put a capper on the victory, McDaniels went up for an uncontested layup with a 14-point lead and the final seconds ticking off the clock.

Jokić took offense to that, and immediately ran down the court to confront him.

The two grabbed one another before needing to be separated by teammates and coaches.

No punches seem to have been thrown, but Jokić and Julius Randle were ejected after the skirmish.

NIKOLA JOKIC GOES AFTER JADEN MCDANIELS FIGHT BREAKS OUT.

OH MY.

pic.twitter.com/YnRsvdw3KY — Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 26, 2026
Jokić, for his part, said he didn't regret confronting McDaniels.

Nikola Jokic said "I don't regret" going after Jaden McDaniels in the closing seconds: "Because he scored after everybody stopped playing." Asked if he felt it was an unwritten rule to let the clock run out: "Yeah." He said it wasn't about firing his own team up.

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 26, 2026
McDaniels, in defiance with the unwritten rules of the sport, declared simply that the "clock still be running, so I'm going to go score." When asked what Jokić said to him in their confrontation, he claimed ignorance.

"I don't know what he said, to be honest.

I just seen someone who was big as hell."
McDaniels has the Timberwolves up 3-1 in the series, and he's clearly gotten under Denver's skin.

Now the Nuggets are on the ropes, and they're going to have to keep their cool if they're going to mount a serious comeback attempt in the series.