Anthony Edwards made the decision to gauge the intensity of his shooting run while the Target Center was throbbing.
Already, a series of jumpers had been buried by the dynamic young superstar of the Minnesota Timberwolves, exuding confidence and becoming more passionate with each one that extended the score. Then, in the last 48 seconds of the crucial third quarter, Edwards dribbled in the direction of the left wing and took a shot.
A sellout crowd let out a thunderous yell as Edwards’ 3-pointer glided through the net, and Kevin Durant’s endless wingspan was a touch too late on the closeout.
With the Timberwolves leading 16 points, Edwards, 22, threw his head back and forth, hammered one fist on his chest, and yelled at Durant, 35, who grinned and shook his head. Although the throng was excited, the moment also seemed like something more, something with historic gravity—possibly the future declaring its presence.
The Timberwolves defeated the Phoenix Suns 120-95 in Game 1. “I think everybody here knows that’s my favorite player of all time, so that was probably one of the best feelings ever in my whole life,” Edwards said after his game-high 33 points.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Timberwolves’ 25-point win was their second-largest in playoff history, surpassed only by their 28-point rout of the Los Angeles Lakers on April 22, 2003. Edwards served as the igniter. Nine rebounds and six assists were added by the former No. 1 choice, elevating his already impressive legacy.
His five consecutive playoff games with 25 or more points, dating back to the previous season, proved to be the longest stretch in franchise history on Saturday. With six postseason games of 30 points or more, Edwards is now one game behind Kevin Garnett, the all-time leader in Timberwolves history.
However, Edwards’ greatest contribution was in the third quarter, when he scored eight more field goals (8) than the Suns (6) as a team, and equaled Sam Cassell for the most points in a quarter in Timberwolves playoff history (18).
The Timberwolves lead by 20 at the conclusion of the quarter, which is just the second time in team history that they had done so going into the fourth quarter in a playoff game. For the most part, the fourth quarter was trash time.
The Timberwolves will try to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2004 in Game 2 of the series on Tuesday. With 31 points, Durant, a 14-time All-Star in his first full season in Phoenix, led the Suns. Regarding his conversation with Edwards, he conceded the obvious, saying, “He got it going, he made some tough ones.”
However, two-time All-Star Edwards showered Durant with compliments.
“Did you see him in the third quarter?” Regarding Durant, Edwards said. “We should have been up 15, 18 points in the third quarter by now, in my opinion. And he made like it was nothing for four or five consecutive baskets, if my memory serves me well. And at one point I became a fan. There I was thinking, ‘Goddamn, he lovely.’ We are powerless to change it. Karl-Anthony Towns was doing a fantastic job on defense. Guard Rudy Gobert was doing a fantastic job.
According to the stat sheet, he is 11 for 17 while shooting from the field. He had 31 shots and missed six. He’s the best at it ever, guy, really. I give him a lot of credit; he’s the greatest.”
While Durant did make four jumpers in the first quarter of the third quarter, he finished the half with only five shots. Devin Booker ended up scoring eighteen points on sixteen shots, but while the Timberwolves’ defensive specialist Jaden McDaniels was covering him, he could only muster one of his seven field goal attempts. With ten shots, Bradley Beal scored fifteen points.
“This was probably their best game that we’ve seen,” Beal said. “Respectfully so, it’s one game.”
After suffering double-digit losses in each of Phoenix’s three regular-season games, Minnesota reversed course with the victory.
The Timberwolves’ most recent loss was on Sunday, when they were defeated by a score that was almost exactly the same as their performance on Saturday: 125-106.
“These guys came here and whooped us in our home court in the last game of the season and were giggling and laughing,” Edwards said. “Beal was correct when he informed our coach that he didn’t believe we played hard enough. That infuriated [Timberwolves coach Chris] Finch. “Man, you have guys on the other team telling me that y’all don’t play hard enough for me,” he said when he arrived the next day. He was absolutely correct when he said, “We were just running around letting them do whatever they wanted to do.” What a fantastic crew. Those three men are all excellent players, no doubt about it. Beating these people is going to be difficult.”
Edwards was a standout player for the Timberwolves, but Towns (19 points, 7 rebounds), Gobert (14 points, 16 rebounds), and the bench (Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 18 points and Naz Reid with 12 points) all put up strong performances.
The Timberwolves most notably had commanding advantages in rebounds (52 to 28), paint points (52 to 34), and second-chance points (20 to 6).
“Our focus and our urgency was obviously at an all-time high,” Gobert said. I like how we adhered to the game plan for the whole 48 minutes, starting and finishing. We made an effort to stick to our routine and not give them the same advantage that they had in the previous three games.”
More in Sports: https://buzzing.today/sports/
Photo Credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/