Anthony Edwards is putting up historic numbers, and the Timberwolves suddenly look like a legitimate threat to the defending champs, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Edwards sc0red 43 points in Minnesota’s Game 1 victory at Denver Saturday night, joining Kobe Bryant as the only other player 22 or younger with back-to-back 40-point games in the playoffs. His 119 points over the Wolves’ past three postseason games are the most in franchise history.
“To be honest, he’s a special player, I have huge respect for him, he can do everything on the floor,” Nikola Jokic said of Edwards. “You need to give him respect, how good and how talented he is.”
Edwards connected on his first five shots from the field as Minnesota made an early statement by taking an 18-4 lead. He finished 17-for-29 with seven rebounds, three assists, a steal and two blocks. He also radiated the confidence that the Wolves will need to pull off the second-round upset.
“It’s not about introducing ourselves to nobody. We know who we are,” Edwards said. “We’re coming out and as long as we got each other’s backs, it don’t really matter what anybody else thinks.”
There’s more on the Timberwolves:
- In a post-game interview with TNT (video link), Edwards credited his Team USA experience last summer with helping to prepare him for big moments. Edwards emerged as one of the stars for the U.S. in the FIBA World Cup and he’s expected to play a major role at this year’s Olympics.
- Even with Minnesota’s fast start, it took a strong performance from Naz Reid to get to the finish line, notes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. With Karl-Anthony Towns in foul trouble, the Sixth Man of the Year had 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Wolves took the lead for good. Reid is eager for the opportunity after missing last season’s playoffs with a wrist injury and barely playing in the 2022 postseason due to personal issues. “I just never gave up. I just fight, fight,” he said. “… Being undrafted kind of got me that edge that I have now. I have my teammates. They kept me up the whole time.”
- Minnesota also found ways to frustrate Jokic in Game 1, Hine adds in a separate story. Even though the two-time MVP had 32 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, the Wolves forced him to turn the ball over seven times and were able to disrupt his usual offense late in the game. “Jokic is a very, very smart player, but I think I’m a very smart defender, too,” Rudy Gobert said. “Sometimes you’re going to win some of these, sometimes I’m going to win some of them, and just always try to stay a step ahead in those situations.”
I was so wrong about Edwards. Coming out of college I felt he was overrated. He has proved me wrong. Kid can ball
Going to be a fun series, T’Wolves won’t choke up every double digit lead they get and have plenty of depth. They have 3 bigs that can give Joker fits and tire him out through the series. Nuggets just have Jordan who is old and Nnjai they gave a contract to but didn’t develop.
If anybody knows how to stop Jokic it’s Minnesota. Their team president Tim Connelly once ran the Nuggets. He’s the one who drafted Jokic, Murray and MPJ, made the decision between Jokic and Nurkic,then later pulled the trigger on the Gordon trade. Chris Finch and Micah Nori were Mike Malone’s top offensive assistants and now they’re the Head Coach and Top assistant.
It’s not sudden to folks who have been paying attention to the Wolves and giving them their due credit this year. They may or may not win this series, but it was always going to be a competitive one.
I’m with you. They’ve been very good all season. They just don’t get the exposure because they’re not the defending champs or a large market team. I did pick them to go the WCF this year in the preseason but that was with the assumption that’d they playing OKC or The Clippers in the 2nd round. I’m not counting them out because they can beat Denver but I don’t think it’ll be an easy.