Timberwolves' Jaden McDaniels names key to beating Nuggets in NBA Playoffs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.Game 1 will be tough to forget for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Anthony Edwards and his squad kept it close against the Denver Nuggets but a third quarter collapse cost them everything.

Now, they are down 0-1 in this NBA Playoffs series but Jaden McDaniels knows there is one person who is their key to winning against Nikola Jokic's squad — Rudy Gobert.Why McDaniels thinks Gobert will lead Timberwolves to win vs. NuggetsThis NBA Playoffs series is dictated by the big man battle between Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets have an offensive weapon that the league has rarely seen and the Timberwolves get a defensive menace who has the hardware to show for his prowess.

Jaden McDaniels posits that their big man just needs to keep up what he was doing so that they could triumph in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.He explained why this was the case, via Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic."It’s all Rudy. Rudy did a good job the whole game just guarding and taking the challenge. That’s what we need every time we play against Jokić, just Rudy coming to compete.

That’s the best game we’ve had from Rudy this year. He keeps doing that, we’re going to win," the Timberwolves forward declared.Gobert was putting on a masterclass in draining the Nuggets star's energy. He was able to prevent him from getting to the perimeter and the Timberwolves defenders only limited him to two made shots from seven attempts from the perimeter.

Gobert also forced a steal and grabbed 10 rebounds. Not to mention, Jokic was also forced to defend Gobert a lot. The Timberwolves big man sank 89% of his shots from the field and scored 17 points.

A big point of improvement that could move the needle in this NBA Playoffs series has to do with Gobert and the charity stripe. The Timberwolves big man only knocked down a single free throw attempt despite being on the line five times. He could also start working on his ballhandling because those three turnovers may have cost them quite a bit.McDaniels and the Timberwolves clearly have a lot of faith in Gobert. Will he be able to pay it back in Game 2 against Jokic and the Nuggets?More Timberwolves News:'Like X-Men': Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards get huge NBA Playoffs assessmentNikola Jokic, Jamal Murray lead Nuggets to Game 1 win over TimberwolvesInside the playoff history between Nuggets, Timberwolves