Jaden McDaniels said what he said after the Minnesota Timberwolves' Game 2 win, and then he went out and proved it.

On Monday night, McDaniels told the media scrum that the Nuggets are "bad defenders" across the board. The whole team. It was the kind of thing that gets clipped, shared, and turned into bulletin board material overnight. Denver heard it and reacted, but the Wolves didn't flinch one bit. 

They showed up for Game 3 and demolished the Nuggets anyway. "I think you gotta credit Jaden tonight," Donte DiVincenzo said after the win. "I think he's the one who really started off the energy a couple days ago. He starts with that energy, and then everybody else follows."

There's a certain kind of player who talks and then disappears when the lights get bright. McDaniels isn't that guy. He's been one of Minnesota's most important players on both ends all season, and his willingness to say something bold publicly during the heat of a playoff series tells you everything about where his head is at.

DiVincenzo knows his teammate well enough to know that the comments were simply the fuel he needed, and motivation for everybody else in that locker room who fed off the energy he was putting out. When a teammate steps out front like that and then backs it up on the court, it does something to a group.

Everybody gets a little more locked in and plays withmore edge. That's exactly what happened in Game 3, and DiVincenzo wasn't shy about giving McDaniels his flowers for it. Minnesota came out with a physicality and an urgency that Denver simply couldn't match, and a lot of that traces back to the tone McDaniels set. 

Asked whether McDaniels going public with his thoughts gave the Timberwolves extra motivation, DiVincenzo kept it simple and honest.

"Like I said, Jaden is Jaden," DiVincenzo said. "He's crazy, we love him. But no matter what he says, he's gonna come and compete and back up whatever he says. Everybody has their own thing. For him, it gets him going, gets him locked in."

That's the kind of teammate you want in a playoff series. Not everyone is built to be the guy making headlines between games. But having someone who can carry that energy, own it publicly, and then deliver on the court is invaluable. It takes pressure off everyone else and gives the group something to rally around.

DiVincenzo also made clear he's not just along for the ride. He's bringing it every night regardless of what anyone else does. But he was quick to point the spotlight at McDaniels, and that kind of selflessness in a playoff run just points more to the togetherness of this group. 

Minnesota's got a culture building in real time here. McDaniels is talking, competing, and backing it up. His teammates are following his lead. The Nuggets came into this series as the favorites, and right now they're the ones scrambling for answers.