---
title: "Timberwolves Oust Defending Champion Nuggets in Six as Injury Wave and Jaden McDaniels Shock Denver"
url: https://www.herespartanburg.com/timberwolves-oust-nuggets-game-6-mcdaniels/
date: 2026-05-02T04:45:05-04:00
modified: 2026-05-02T04:45:05-04:00
author: "Brody Myers"
categories: ["Sports"]
site: "HERESpartanburg"
attribution: "HERESpartanburg"
---

# Timberwolves Oust Defending Champion Nuggets in Six as Injury Wave and Jaden McDaniels Shock Denver

*Source: [HERESpartanburg](https://www.herespartanburg.com/timberwolves-oust-nuggets-game-6-mcdaniels/) — May 2, 2026 by Brody Myers*

The Denver Nuggets entered the 2026 NBA playoffs as one of the Western Conference’s most feared franchises — a team that claimed a championship just three seasons ago and had closed the regular season on a scorching 12-game winning streak. Thursday night at Target Center, that mystique evaporated completely.

The Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated the Nuggets with a 110-98 Game 6 victory, taking the first-round series 4-2 and advancing to the Western Conference Semifinals. Forward Jaden McDaniels delivered the defining performance, posting a career-high 32 points and 10 rebounds while simultaneously guarding Denver’s most explosive offensive weapon. His effort made him just the fourth player in franchise history to record a 30-10 outing in the playoffs, joining Kevin Garnett, Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.

The result was more stunning given how shorthanded Minnesota entered the night. The Wolves had already lost Donte DiVincenzo to a ruptured right Achilles tendon in Game 4 and Anthony Edwards to a bone bruise and hyperextended left knee in the same contest. Hours before tip-off, backup guard Ayo Dosunmu was ruled out with right calf soreness. Three players who had each averaged 10 or more points in the series — Edwards at 18.5 per game, Dosunmu at 21.8 and DiVincenzo at 10.8 — were unavailable. Minnesota still won. The Timberwolves became the first team in NBA playoff history to win a game while missing three players who had averaged double figures in that series.

Head coach Chris Finch improvised accordingly. Veteran point guard Mike Conley started and played 26 minutes. Terrence Shannon Jr., a second-year guard whose playoff experience had been limited, received a surprise start and scored 24 points in 35 minutes. Minnesota’s front line of Julius Randle, Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert proved decisive, helping the Wolves outscore Denver 64-40 in points in the paint and hold a 50-33 rebounding advantage.

Gobert finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists — a quietly dominant performance that reinforced why Finch leaned heavily on a big lineup all night. Finch was direct about the team’s motivation throughout the series, saying his players took Denver’s late-season decision to angle for a particular bracket opponent personally and channeled that into their playoff preparation. He described his group as up for the challenge of proving doubters wrong.

For Denver, the losses cut deep. Jamal Murray, who built a reputation as one of the league’s most lethal elimination-game scorers, shot four-for-17 for just 12 points and finished at minus-18 in more than 40 minutes of action. Nikola Jokić was more productive with 28 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, but his contributions could not offset a team that was outrebounded, outscored in the paint and repeatedly exposed defensively. Head coach David Adelman accepted full responsibility for the playoff shortfall, though Jokić pushed back on that framing, making clear he believed the failures belonged to the players on the floor rather than the coaching staff.

McDaniels had set the competitive tone early in the series, publicly calling out Denver’s defenders after Game 2. A late, unnecessary layup at the end of Game 4 triggered a skirmish with Jokić that amplified the bad blood between the franchises. In Game 6, McDaniels had the final word, saying afterward he stood by what he had said and was ready to move on to the next challenge.

Denver, the third seed in the West, will watch Minnesota face San Antonio in the conference semifinals. That series will feature Gobert opposite fellow Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, who won the Defensive Player of the Year award unanimously this season — a snub Gobert felt acutely after failing to appear in the top three of the voting despite another strong defensive campaign.

For South Carolina’s college basketball community, the Nuggets’ early exit carries a particular dimension. Former Clemson Tiger Hunter Tyson spent three seasons with Denver after the franchise selected him in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft out of Littlejohn Coliseum, where he finished as the program’s all-time leader in games played and earned first-team All-ACC honors in his final season. In February 2026, the Nuggets traded Tyson and a 2032 second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in a deadline move designed to drop below the NBA’s luxury tax threshold. Denver received a 2026 second-round pick in return and cleared financial room, but the cost-cutting left the roster thinner heading into the postseason. The Upstate SC fans who watched Tyson’s five-year career in Tigertown — and tracked his tenure in Denver — now see the Nuggets facing an uncertain offseason with a championship core that appears to be running out of time.