Timberwolves' Jaden McDaniels On His Altercation With Klay Thompson: "Some People Take Things Differently"

Draymond Green's chokehold on Rudy Gobert on Tuesday night stole all the headlines, but that incident was, of course, caused by the altercation between Jaden McDaniels and Klay Thompson. The two men got into it less than two minutes into the contest, and McDaniels was asked about the incident after the game.

"I mean I was just trying to crash for a rebound," McDaniels said. "And he kind of had grabbed me by my collar and I was just trying to defend myself, get him kinda off me like a little bit and you know the rest is what it is."

When asked if he felt some tension in the air, McDaniels said he did.

"Oh yeah, I knew before like there was some chitter chatter going back and forth," McDaniels stated. "But I wasn't taking it serious, I was laughing and then I guess it was a bigger deal to him so. I have no problem, I have no issue, I was just trying to defend myself."

A reporter then enquired if the two of them getting tangled on an earlier possession caused it or if there were any tensions from their last game that carried over, but the 23-year-old said it was none of that.

"Nah we have nothing," McDaniels said. "He missed a shot, we ran down the court, we probably said something back to each other and to me, it wasn't that serious. I was laughing and joking around. Some people take things differently."

That was McDaniels sneakily suggesting Klay might have been hurt over some trash talk. He said they had no past history and that he didn't even know the Golden State Warriors guard.

While there were clearly some tensions between these teams from their previous meeting on Sunday, McDaniels says there were no issues between him and Klay that he could think of from then. He just seems bemused by the whole situation, which saw both of them and Green get ejected. We didn't hear anything from Klay after the game, but he'll surely be asked about it at some point down the road.

As for the game itself, the Minnesota Timberwolves came away with a 104-101 win to improve to 8-2 on the season and to 2-0 in the In-Season Tournament. The Warriors, meanwhile, dropped to 6-6 and are now 1-1 in the tournament.

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Draymond Green And Anthony Edwards Got Into A Heated Verbal Altercation In The Last Meeting

The reason that the reporters kept bringing up the last game was that things really got heated, between Anthony Edwards and Draymond, in particular. Green and Edwards were caught in a heated verbal altercation and the two kept going at each other.

Edwards made Green pay for all the talking with 13 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Timberwolves to a 116-110 win on that night. He then took a bit of a backseat to Karl-Anthony Towns on Tuesday night, as he racked up 11 points in the fourth to lead the turnaround.

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The Timberwolves Are Dominating On Defense

I think it's safe to say not many outside of Minnesota thought the Timberwolves were going to be all that great this season. They've greatly surpassed expectations so far and have managed to surprise the basketball world with just how good they've looked.

While Edwards has stolen the headlines with his incredible scoring exploits, the biggest key to their success has been their defense. The Timberwolves have a league-best defensive rating of 102.1, as per the NBA, and the second-placed Boston Celtics are some way away from them with a rating of 105.8.

Gobert has been incredible on defense and trading for him last year no longer looks like a stupid decision. The Wolves are undoubtedly on the rise and do seem very capable of making some noise in the postseason.

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