Anthony Edwards has the killer gene that No. 1 options in the NBA must have.
He can drop north of 40 points, put the tallest player on the floor on a poster, cross over the best perimeter defender and pull up for three, and hit the game-winner all in the same night. Edwards’ talent is undeniable, but for a player who entered this season wanting to win MVP, he had to become more consistent.
In particular, Ant needed to remain the same, lights-out player even when the games aren’t as significant and the opponent isn’t as much of a challenge.
The solution he set for himself was clear.
“Try to get a career-high in points,” Edwards said at media day. “I think that’s how I am going to try to do it, because I usually approach it like, ‘Ah, I’m going to let my teammates get their s— off.’ Instead, I am just going to go for a career high. I think that’s how I am going to stay engaged.”
Over two months later, Anthony Edwards is going for career highs against bad teams. But he isn’t doing it because he wants to; he’s doing it because he must.
After the overtime buzzer sounded Tuesday in New Orleans, Edwards was slouched over, gasping for air. He was waiting for his postgame interview with Ashley Stroehlein. Edwards had just finished playing the entire second half and overtime, leading the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 149-142 win against the New Orleans Pelicans, who own the worst record in the Western Conference.
It was a win that never should have gotten to overtime in the first place, but the Wolves came into Tuesday’s game with an unprofessional, unfocused mindset.
“You can’t come into the game thinking you’re going to win it before it starts,” Edwards told Stroehlein on the FanDuel Sports broadcast. “You’ve got to play until it says three zeros at the end of the fourth quarter. That’s super important, and I think we didn’t do that today. God blessed us with another opportunity to go to overtime, and we handled business, but it may not be like that the next game.”
The Timberwolves trailed by ten at halftime. Rudy Gobert attempted a three-pointer (his foot was on the line, but it was close enough). And Micah Nori made a 6-7 joke.
By all accounts, it was an unprofessional first half by Minnesota. Even without putting too much weight on Nori’s Gen Alpha humor and Gobert’s field goal attempt that was late in the shot clock, the Wolves were down at halftime because their defense lacked any sort of bite against a team that ranks near the bottom in almost every offensive statistic. Zion Williamson and Jordan Poole — two of New Orleans’ top-three scorers — were also out.
Anthony Edwards believed their absences were part of Minnesota’s defensive woes.
“I don’t really make excuses, but I will say tonight, they just don’t have a go-to guy,” Ant told reporters postgame. “Everybody out there is just playing free … We know what they’re going to do. We’ve got the scouting report, but we don’t really know these guys. We’ve never really seen them play.”
Regardless of who was on the court for New Orleans in the first half or how little NBA experience they may have had, the Wolves failed on defense because of their own mistakes. They brought no pressure at the point of attack, and the Pelicans repeatedly beat in transition. New Orleans had a 16-2 fastbreak points advantage in the first half.
For the Wolves to beat New Orleans after halftime, they would need greater defensive pressure and focus. But when the Pelicans extended their lead to 15 two minutes into the third, it was going to take more than just better defense. The Wolves needed Edwards, who was stuck at 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting in the first half, to tap into the mindset he talked about at media day.
If not, Minnesota was bound for its worst loss of the season.
Like usual, Edwards played the entire third quarter, which is the frame in which he operates the best. On the season, he averages an NBA-best 11.8 points in the third.
Against the Pelicans, Edwards dropped 19 points on 6 of 9 shooting in the frame. However, for as unstoppable as he was, New Orleans still held onto a three-point lead entering the fourth. Now, they were hitting contested threes — the type of shots that emerge from a high level of confidence that makes any team a threat.
Chris Finch was in desperation mode. He started the fourth quarter with Edwards on the floor, something that he almost never does. Ant then scored 11 points in the fourth, and four more in overtime to bring his total on the night to a season-high 44 in 47 minutes. He hit heroic shot after shot down the stretch. And with each one, he inched closer to surpassing his career high of 53 points.
It was the latest example of Edwards willing his team to victory against a subpar team. We saw him do it earlier in the year with his 41-point bomb in the season-opener against the 8-13 Portland Trail Blazers. After that, he took over the second half during stretches against the 5-16 Sacramento Kings and 7-13 Utah Jazz in early November.
The Wolves are 11-1 against sub-.500 teams. They have largely played well against inferior opponents. But when they haven’t, for whatever reason, Edwards continues to show he is becoming the kind of leader who refuses to let his team lose.
“I should’ve had 50,” Edwards said regarding his performance.
Anthony Edwards was nine points away from setting a new career-high against the Pelicans. However, he probably wasn’t aware of how many points he was on as the minutes elapsed on the clock. He wasn’t chasing a new career high against a poor opponent; he was putting that opponent away with heroic shot after heroic shot. Edwards almost went for a career high on Tuesday. Not because he wanted to, but because it’s what he had to do to win.