MINNEAPOLIS — After the Timberwolves dropped Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series despite Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry‘s early exit, Minnesota coach Chris Finch challenged the performance of franchise star Anthony Edwards.
“It starts with Ant,” Finch said following the Wolves’ 99-88 loss Tuesday night. “I thought he struggled, and then you could just kind of see the light go out a little bit for a while.”
Edwards, who was No. 4 in the league in scoring average during the regular season at 27.6 points per game, totaled just a point at halftime on 0-for-8 shooting. Minnesota trailed 44-31 at the break.
He would miss his first 10 shots in all before making a basket, and he finished with 23 points on 9-for-23 shooting, including 1-for-5 on 3-pointers.
Even after Curry’s left hamstring strain caused him to leave the game in the second quarter after scoring 13 points in 13 minutes, the Wolves were unable to make much of a dent. Golden State led by as many as 23 points, and Minnesota never cut the deficit closer than nine points in the second half.
Finch said addressing the 23-year-old Edwards’ spirit shouldn’t be something he has to coach at this stage of the postseason.
“What is there to talk about? You’re the leader of the team,” Finch said. “You’ve got to come out and set the tone. If your shot is not going, you still have to carry the energy. If I’ve got to talk to guys about having the right energy coming into an opening second-round game, then we’re not on the same page.”
Edwards, who had two steals in the first half while Minnesota held Golden State to 44 points on 37.2% shooting, pointed to his defense as proof that his effort wasn’t as off as Finch believed.
The three-time All-Star accepted any critiques that might come with the loss nonetheless.
“People are going to try to blame whatever, blame whoever; they can blame me,” Edwards said. “[But] we just didn’t play good enough.”
He was hardly the only Minnesota player to underperform. Julius Randle, who averaged 22.6 points on 48.1% shooting in the first-round series win over the Los Angeles Lakers, shot just 4-for-11 on Tuesday and had as many turnovers as rebounds, with three. Starting point guard Mike Conley was held scoreless, going 0-for-5. Donte DiVincenzo tallied seven points on 3-for-11 shooting (1-for-7 from 3) off the bench.
“It’s frustrating, but I’m encouraged,” Randle said. “There’s a lot of things as a team that we can do better.
“We can’t hurt ourselves, and we feel like we did that tonight.”
Minnesota center Rudy Gobert said the Wolves’ long wait to start the second round — while the Warriors battled with the Houston Rockets for seven games to advance — impacted the team.
“Maybe we needed to get ready to play a high-intensity game,” Gobert said. “Not playing for six days, even though we practiced, I think we weren’t really feeling that intensity.”
The Wolves shot 0-for-15 from 3 in the first half — the team’s first half in any game without a made 3 since 2018 and first half in a playoff game without a 3 since 2004 — and just 5-for-29 for the game.
Between their closeout win over L.A. in the first round and their second-round opener, the Wolves had the worst two-game 3-point shooting stretch in NBA playoff history by going 12-for-76 (15.8%), according to ESPN Research (minimum of 50 3-point attempts).
“Tonight, we didn’t shoot the ball well, but tonight is over,” Edwards said. “So, next game we’ll shoot the ball really well.”
Finch also took aim at his team’s fast-break execution, as it managed only 10 fast-break points, even though the Warriors committed 18 turnovers.
“Our transition decision-making was diabolical,” Finch said. “Obviously, we couldn’t hit a shot, but I didn’t like the fact that we couldn’t repeatedly generate good shots. We should’ve been able to.”
Conley, the Wolves’ 37-year-old elder statesman, said the Wolves will have something better in store for Thursday’s Game 2.
“I expect a response,” Conley said. “We all felt like we played as bad as we could. Give them credit, but we weren’t there all the way. A lot of mental errors, a lot of mental mistakes and a lot of things we know we can change, so I think we’ll be ready.”
