McDaniels is preaching that Minnesota needs to stay level-headed.
The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off something that has never been done before in the modern NBA on Wednesday night, erasing a 13-point deficit in the final three minutes of overtime to stun the Houston Rockets 110-108 at Target Center.
And Jaden McDaniels, who led the team with 25 points before leaving with cramps late in the fourth quarter, had a pretty simple explanation for how it happened.
"Just not worry about the refs, just going to play," McDaniels said after the game. "You see, we weren't worried about them in overtime and came back and won."
A Comeback Nobody Saw Coming
The context makes the win even wilder.
Anthony Edwards had already missed his fifth straight game with knee inflammation and Ayo Dosunmu was out with a sore calf, so Minnesota was already short-handed going into it.
Then McDaniels started cramping up late in the fourth and had to be pulled, Rudy Gobert fouled out at the end of regulation and Naz Reid got ejected early in overtime after getting into it with referee Scott Foster.
The Rockets scored on their first six possessions of overtime to take a 108-95 lead and fans were already heading for the exits when something clicked.
Minnesota closed the game on a 15-0 run, with Julius Randle sinking a pullup jumper with 8.8 seconds left to cap one of the most improbable finishes in league history.
Randle finished with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists, and all of his scoring came in the second half.
Donte DiVincenzo knocked down a clutch three to tie it up and Mike Conley hit a huge one of his own with under three minutes left.
That type of all-hands-on-deck effort is exactly what this team has built its identity around.
McDaniels Keeps Getting Better
Before the cramps knocked him out of the game, McDaniels was the best player on the floor and it wasn't particularly close.
He went 10-of-17 from the field and 3-of-4 from three while also guarding Kevin Durant for most of the night, something that used to be considered a thankless assignment but has become just another part of his game this season.
He also mentioned postgame that he would be fine moving forward, calling it nothing more than a cramp.
The growth has been steady and noticeable all year.
McDaniels is putting up career-best numbers across the board, averaging 14.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game on 51.6 percent shooting from the field and 44.6 percent from three.
He was already one of the league's best perimeter defenders after earning All-Defensive honors in 2023-24, but now the offensive side of his game has caught up to where he is a legitimate two-way force and not just a guy who guards the other team's best wing.
What It Means for the Stretch Run
The win moved the Timberwolves to 45-28, keeping them a half-game behind Denver for fourth in the Western Conference and 1.5 games ahead of the 43-29 Rockets for the No. 5 spot.
And look, the fact that they evened the season series at one game apiece matters a lot with a final matchup in Houston on April 10 still to come.
The whole thing comes at a good time too, because Minnesota has shown it can win without Edwards and the confidence from a game like this could carry them deep into the postseason.
Up next is a Saturday matchup with the 52-20 Detroit Pistons at Target Center.