McDaniels ‘confident’ Wolves would beat Kings in playoff series originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Kings have defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves twice in their home arena this season, but one player doesn’t believe Sacramento will be a problem once the NBA playoffs roll around.
Following the Kings’ 124-120 overtime win against the Timberwolves on Friday night at Target Center, Minnesota forward Jaden McDaniels expressed his confidence in that fact.
“I really don’t worry about them when they come here,” McDaniels told reporters (h/t Star Tribune’s Chris Hine). “I feel pretty confident we can beat them four times in a row if we had to play them, so we just toss this one to the side, really.”
Even without star guard De’Aaron Fox on Friday, the Kings — led by Malik Monk‘s 39-point performance — showed the No. 1-seeded Timberwolves they can post a true threat to Minnesota’s Western Conference dominance should they meet in the postseason.
Sacramento’s win snapped a two-game losing streak for the current No. 7 seed as it fights to avoid the NBA play-in tournament, and despite McDaniels’ belief Minnesota would have the upper hand in a playoff bout, some of his teammates understand that Friday’s loss showed they have plenty to improve upon before then.
“When the game gets close, [the Kings] test our discipline,” Karl-Anthony Towns told reporters after the game. “We haven’t been able to show that merit, that mettle that’s needed to be a championship team. So, we’ve got to work on that.
“We’ve got a couple of games left, but we’ve got a good test coming up, especially this month, to really work on that and really own that and make sure we’re as prepared as we can be at the end of April.”
The Kings and Timberwolves won’t meet again during the 2023-24 NBA regular season, with Sacramento taking the seasons series two games to one. But should they face off again in the postseason, the Kings certainly hope to give McDaniels and Co. something to worry about.
