TWO DAYS AFTER what Anthony Edwards termed the “most necessary recreation” of his profession, securing a win towards the Golden State Warriors to keep away from an 2-0 gap within the Western Convention semifinals, the Minnesota Timberwolves star once more discovered his crew in one other battle, on the street for Recreation 3.
With “Playoff Jimmy” Butler absolutely engaged, returning to the first scorer function he’d mastered in Miami, Edwards — the league’s No. 4 main scorer within the common season — started to simmer. Butler had scored 18 first-half factors, main his Stephen Curry-less squad to a two-point halftime lead.
Edwards, for his half, had scored solely eight factors within the first half, on 3-for-12 taking pictures, together with 1-for-6 on 3-pointers. The Wolves had been outscored by 11 factors throughout his 20 minutes on the court docket.
However then, as he so usually does, the 23-year-old All-Star got here out firing, his supreme talent and elite athleticism usually leaving even an 18-year veteran akin to Wolves level guard Mike Conley in awe.
“There’s moments the place I am going to go residence and I am going to sit there and [think] I could possibly be, proper now on this second, [in the midst of] being a teammate of probably the greatest gamers that ever performed this recreation,” Conley instructed ESPN.
Edwards did not simply rating factors — 28 within the second half alone — there was panache in how he did it. His second-half spotlight reel was a reminder of why the chiseled 6-foot-4, 225-pound taking pictures guard has already evoked comparisons to Michael Jordan.
There was his dunk, his crew trailing by 5 late within the third quarter, when he launched from the semi-circle simply contained in the free throw line and completed with a right-handed hammer that decreased the Warriors’ 6-9 energy ahead Kevon Looney to the basketball equal of a smashed bug on a windshield.
And there was his 3-pointer, his crew down six early within the fourth, when Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski refused to cede him any house, so Edwards merely created some, stepping again and reaching the height of his leap earlier than releasing his jumper.
After which there was maybe his most important play.
On the left wing, Edwards was triple-teamed by Butler, Looney and Podziemski. Given his apparent offensive rhythm, it might have shocked nobody to see him rise and hearth over the trio.
As a substitute, he fed an open Julius Randle on the high of the important thing with the ball then swung to the precise wing to get Jaden McDaniels a clear have a look at a 3 to place Minnesota up six with 3:20 remaining. Golden State by no means reduce it nearer than 4 after that.
There was no official statistic related to the play by Edwards. Randle received credit score for the help. However the sequence was a tangible instance of Edwards’ real-time evolution as an all-around risk, along with his decision-making fueling the Wolves’ inconceivable turnaround from one of many NBA’s least dependable groups in clutch time to one in all its most.
Minnesota has posted a 4-0 file in video games that includes clutch time this postseason, outscoring their opponents 45-16 in these minutes, based on ESPN Analysis.
Edwards has 15 factors on 4-for-7 taking pictures in his 14 postseason clutch minutes, and he has fortified that effort with 5 assists and no turnovers — probably the most assists with no turnover in clutch time by any participant within the 2025 playoffs.
“My coach [Chris] Hines all the time tells me, ‘Michael Jordan had Steve Kerr,'” Edwards instructed ESPN. “He all the time tells me stuff like that. So, it is simply having the ability to belief my teammates.”
However for as pure as it would search for Edwards now, it has been a seasonlong course of to get him there.
FIVE MONTHS AGO, Edwards stepped into the Chase Heart for the second night time of a home-and-home collection towards the Golden State Warriors. The Wolves misplaced 114-106, dropping their season file to 12-11 — and Edwards was a main motive why.
After taking pictures them again into the sport within the third quarter, scoring 15 factors on 6-for-8 taking pictures, and hitting a go-ahead 3 with 4:47 to go within the fourth, he proceeded to shoot his crew out of it. In crunch time, he shot 0-for-6 with a turnover. The Warriors closed on a 9-0 run.
The Wolves had seen this earlier than.
“Within the final 5 minutes, he simply wished to attain, rating, rating as a result of he wished to show to the Warriors that he can knock ’em out,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch instructed ESPN. “He got here into the crew afterwards and he apologized. He stated, ‘That is on me.’ He simply stopped sort of creating for everyone down the stretch.”
What exacerbated Finch’s frustration was the truth that solely two days earlier, the Wolves had crushed the Warriors handily, with Edwards scoring 30 factors and dishing 9 assists.
“He performed a tremendous recreation,” Finch stated.
Hines remembers that loss — and classes derived from it.
“He is the child that you just inform him to not eat chocolate and he is received chocolate on his face,” Hines instructed ESPN. “And you are like, ‘Hey dude, did you simply eat the chocolate?’ He is like, ‘No.’ We simply instructed you dude, do not eat the chocolate! In order that’s him.”
Nonetheless, as blatantly poor as his late-game execution was, his teammates gravitated towards him.
“That was a part of our development as a crew,” Randle instructed ESPN. “And it actually wasn’t on him. He was like, ‘F it, let me attempt to will our crew to a win.’ He is the last word competitor. However he was capable of acknowledge, ‘Hey man, I received to be higher.’ That is simply who Ant is. He is not hesitant to take the blame — and clearly he’s going to get reward — however he consistently needs to get higher.”
Hines says he is aware of Edwards sees himself as an alpha and gravitates towards killer rivals like Jordan and Kobe Bryant. However all of Jordan’s six championships got here earlier than Edwards was born. And his birthday was two months after Bryant’s second title in L.A. So Hines remains to be educating Edwards about their video games, past the dunks and game-winners that also flood social media.
“Jordan had Steve Kerr,” Hines stated. “He had [John] Paxson. LeBron [James] had Boobie Gibson at instances. Guys who would actually make these pictures, well timed pictures. The [Robert] Horrys and whatnot, all through the historical past of the sport. And if he does not research that kind of stuff, then he will hold bumping his head towards a brick wall.
“So it has been an excellent transition for him to see it. We’ll watch clips of Kobe when he hits Rick Fox [with a pass]. Ant’s like, ‘Who’s Rick Fox?’ He had no clue who Rick Fox is. However he sees he hit the shot. So he is getting a very good understanding of the historical past of the sport and the way it’s repeating itself [with him].”
Edwards acknowledges he has struggled to evolve past his hero-ball tendencies.
“My first couple of instances within the playoffs down the stretch, I all the time simply wished to win the sport myself,” Edwards stated. “As a result of rising up, while you watch the video games, you all the time assume like, ‘Oh, they all the time hit the massive pictures!’ However typically they make the additional move, the precise play.”
BUT FOR AS a lot as he nonetheless strives to match the late-game heroics or Jordan and Bryant, he’s 0-for-15 (0-for-10 on 3s) in his regular-season profession on tying or go-ahead pictures within the remaining 10 seconds of the fourth quarter or additional time, based on ESPN Analysis. Together with the playoffs, he is 1-for-18.
This season, Minnesota stumbled to a 20-26 file in shut video games — the second most clutch-time losses within the league — and Edwards was a fundamental issue. He was 0-for-7 on these tying or go-ahead pictures — probably the most such makes an attempt with no make within the league this season and tied for probably the most with no make previously 5 seasons.
Edwards’ coaches and teammates will not be aiming to disable what drives him to need to take over, they are saying. It is a shift, one other dimension, whereas additionally offering him with all of the defensive coverages he’s sure to see.
He is studying.
“That is the steadiness he is been having to cope with as a result of he is a go, go, go sort of man,” Conley stated. “And we inform him on a regular basis, we wish him to be aggressive to attain. Do not even take into consideration us as, ‘Oh, let me attempt to get Mike the ball.’ I feel that is when he slows down a bit bit, when he is like, ‘Oh, I simply must move it.’ He turns into only a passer.
“So it is nearly getting him to know, keep in an attacking mode, be aggressive on a regular basis, however whilst you’re doing that, are you able to course of it? Are you able to choose it up while you see any individual final minute come over to assist, you recognize the place your outlet is? And I feel that is the place he is attending to.”
It isn’t intuitive simply but. “Each three possessions, I will shoot one out of three,” Edwards stated. “Particularly down the stretch.”
The metronome in his thoughts reminds him: move, move, shoot. Or shoot, move, move. Or move, shoot, move. He has been motivated to surrender the ball, too, as a result of he has labored on optimizing his catch-and-shoot jumpers. Taking part in like the proverbial Kerr, not simply passing to him.
He picked that up final summer season, when he was coached by Kerr on the Olympics, and teamed with Curry, James and his idol, Kevin Durant.
“KD instructed me having the ability to catch and shoot the ball goes to be the most important factor for me,” Edwards stated.
Generally it is the messenger, and never the message.
“We have been attempting to get him to try this for a variety of years as a result of the numbers have been so good,” Finch stated. “He was such an excellent catch-and-shoot shooter, however he had all the time performed with this rhythm with the ball in his fingers, tried to generate his personal shot off the dribble. So I feel it felt a bit uncomfortable, although he had nice success.”
His success in Paris final summer season, profitable a gold medal, modified him for the higher, his teammates say.
“He talks about Group USA greater than he is talked about something. And he talks rather a lot,” Conley stated. “I feel it opened up a brand new world for him.”
On the similar time, it solely strengthened his worldview. “[It] put him in a realm of, ‘Look, they’re identical to me. F—, I am [actually] higher,’ in his head,” Hines stated.
As his evolution continues, Edwards has the Wolves one win away from a second straight convention finals look. He assisted Conley on a 3 with 1:22 left in Recreation 5 of the primary spherical to shut out the Lakers; however he is nonetheless the man who scored 16 of his 30 factors within the third quarter of Recreation 4 of the second spherical to present the Wolves a 3-1 lead over the Warriors.
And the Wolves consider he may be the participant to lastly cause them to the primary championship within the 36-year historical past of the franchise.
“I’ve been round a whole lot of nice gamers. He’s as assured in his perception in himself as … it is Kobe-like. And I used to be round Kobe,” Randle instructed ESPN.
“He is not petrified of any second and he needs these moments. His perception and confidence in who he’s as a participant is the very best I’ve ever seen or been round, for anyone.”
As Edwards has grown to belief the teammates round him, they’ve dedicated to trusting him proper again.
“We preach to him: ‘Make the precise play, make the precise play,'” Finch stated. “Ant stated to me one time, ‘Possibly I am the precise play.’
“And he isn’t unsuitable.”
