At least one person in the series thinks Cam Johnson is a bad defender.

Timberwolves wing Jaden McDaniels started his list of Denver’s subpar defenders with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. He continued with Tim Hardaway, Johnson and Aaron Gordon. McDaniels doubled down when given a chance to clarify after Minnesota’s Game 2 win.

Johnson didn’t have much to say about his inclusion in McDaniels’ list.

“I’m not buying into those antics – period,” Johnson said after the Nuggets practiced Wednesday at Ball Arena before heading to Minnesota for Thursday’s Game 3. “I’m not entertaining them.”

Perhaps McDaniels forgot a couple of possessions early in Monday’s game. Johnson stood up to Rudy Gobert despite giving up five inches and roughly 40 pounds on Minnesota’s center. Gobert had to kick the ball out of the post to McDaniels of all people. Gobert then provided a screen on Jamal Murray that led to Johnson helping to prevent McDaniels from driving down the middle of the lane. Murray and Johnson forced McDaniels to pick up his dribble. A perfectly vertical contest from Johnson forced McDaniels’ jumper to clank off the front of the rim in such a fashion that it started a Nuggets fast break that Gordon finished with an alley-oop to himself.

A couple of possessions later, Johnson stayed in front of McDaniels on a drive to his left and intercepted a pass to Gobert.

“Cam’s a good defender. … Maybe people didn’t get to watch him enough, but he moves his feet really well,” Christian Braun said.

“He blocks guys’ drives pretty well. He’s just a good player. That’s who he is. He can do a little bit of everything. Watching him defend, I think, has been a surprise for a lot of people, but we’ve kind of seen that all year. He’s just a good defender, a good player, and he’s really smart. He knows guys’ tendencies. He can cut guys off.”

With Denver switching most screens to start the series, Johnson’s assignments have ranged from Minnesota’s wings and included stints on Julius Randle, Naz Reid and Gobert. It’s not going to be perfect, but Johnson’s doing what he can to hold up against larger opponents.

“When we go smaller, whether that’s Spencer (Jones) at the four or Cam at the four, those guys have to play the game. If they have to front, they’ve got to do that. If they have to deny, make the catches as far out on the floor as they can. After that, you rely on strengths, but you’ve got to battle. You’ve got to make it a contested two, not make it a layup,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said.

“I thought Cam fought. Let’s be honest, Randle is going to score on people. That’s what he does. He’s an All-Star player, but you just have to fight him. The more we can make him shoot turnaround jump shots, things of that nature, and not right at the rim, we’ll be in a good spot.”

The Nuggets’ coach also wasn’t going to spend too much energy on McDaniels’ comments. Adelman quizzed the media in attendance to name Denver’s defensive rating through two games. It’s 109.3, which ranks sixth among playoff teams. The Pistons and Thunder were the only teams to boast defensive ratings lower than 110 in the regular season. Minnesota’s defensive rating through two playoff games is 112.2.

“OK, next,” Adelman said, trying to move on from the McDaniels conversation.

“Our half-court defense has been OK. People are going to score points in the NBA, just like we did on them.”

While this is Johnson’s first playoff series with the Nuggets, he’s well-versed in verbal and physical battles of the postseason. He played in the NBA Finals as a member of the Suns in his second NBA season back in 2021. He said there was even more talking in his first playoff series, a six-game victory over the Lakers where the Suns won the final three games after falling behind, 2-1, so this is nothing new.

“It brings the best out of you. It brings the competition out of you. That’s what we do it for. I just want to go out there and compete and compete for a round-one win and compete for a championship. That’s what we’re going to do,” Johnson said.

“It’s two games in. The winner has got to win three more, so there’s a lot of basketball to be played. It’s not about words right now. It’s about play.”