Anthony Edwards Took A Step Toward MVP In the Season Opener

Anthony Edwards untucked his jersey as he yelled at the Moda Center crowd.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

He just hit a step-back midrange shot that put the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 118-114 season-opening win over the Portland Trailblazers on ice. As Edwards made his way back to the bench after Portland called a desperation timeout, Joe Ingles bulged his eyes wide open, sarcastically signaling he couldn’t believe what he just saw.

The truth is, nobody on the Wolves was surprised that Ant hit that shot. Nobody in the organization was surprised when he dropped 41 points, setting a franchise record for points scored in a season-opening game. Edwards was the least surprised out of them all.

His confident yet relatively calm reaction after the shot said everything — the shot, the performance, the win that he carried was only the first installment in what Edwards expects to be an MVP campaign filled with many of these captivating games.

Edwards has two goals this year. He wants to win MVP in the regular season and then take home the Championship Trophy in June. Even for a player like Edwards, who finished eighth in MVP voting last season and led the Wolves to back-to-back Conference Finals appearances, those are lofty goals. Because it’s Ant, though, the goals aren’t unrealistic. Still, until we can see the proclamation materialize, it’s only a public announcement.

For Ant to win MVP this season, he must become the same player every night, regardless of what the defense does against him. There must be a level of inevitability that comes with his game-to-game operations. There was with Shai Gilgous-Alexander last year, Nikola Jokić two years ago, and every other MVP in NBA history.

On Wednesday, Edwards led all scorers at halftime with 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting. The Trailblazers came out with an ultra-aggressive, in-your-face defense, one they want to make their calling card this season. Jrue Holiday and Toumani Camara took turns picking up Edwards as soon as he walked across the center court logo.

When Portland set up in the half-court, its defense was air-tight and physical, but Edwards still managed to break through. Last year, that was the type of defense that would threaten to remove Edwards as a scoring threat. That wasn’t the case in Portland on Wednesday night.

“Me working on my ball handling this year, it’s kind of like I’m inviting the bump,” said Edwards postgame. “Because now I know I’m just going to pick the ball up and look for an outlet pass. I’m going to keep my dribble, try to find another move, and counter. I was ready for it, honestly.”

Ant’s ability to orchestrate repeatable offense early on was the first indication that he was in for a big night. Still, his percolating performance was subdued at halftime because the Wolves trailed 61-57 and didn’t produce enough sequences like the one above — defense leading to offense.

The Wolves want to rely on their defense this season, much like they did in 2023-24 when they led the NBA in defensive rating. Minnesota ranked sixth in defensive rating last season, but improving its defense to a consistently elite level is vital on nights when Edwards doesn’t drop 41 or when the offense is otherwise off.

Portland dropped 35 points in the first quarter, 26 in the second quarter, and 34 in the third. Early foul trouble forced Rudy Gobert to play less than 13 minutes in the first half. When he was off the court, the Blazers attacked the rim at will, got to the free-throw line repeatedly, and overall had no issues producing easy looks in the flow. Even when Gobert was on the court, Portland controlled the game on both sides of the ball.

Still, the Wolves only trailed by four at halftime. The path to victory was straightforward.

“Just stay the course,” Julius Randle said via FanDuel Sports. “We knew that if we got stops, we win the game. And Ant took us home. I mean, it was pretty simple — get stops, Ant took us home.”

Well, it was simple in theory. Edwards had 13 points in the third quarter, but the Wolves seemed destined to open the season with a loss for the third straight year because they couldn’t get a stop. The Blazers shot 11 of 21 from the floor in the third, 8 of 10 from the free-throw line, and 4 of 9 from deep, building a seven-point lead entering the final frame.

Before Edwards could take a shot to win the game and parade around the court with a victorious smirk on his face, the Wolves needed a lineup that could string together defensive stops. So, Chris Finch got creative. He opened the frame with Bones Hyland, playing in his first minutes of the night, alongside Jaylen Clark, Jaden McDaniels, Randle, and Gobert. Finch eventually rotated in Shannon, who finished the game on the court.

“Just change the pace of the game,” Edwards said regarding the fourth quarter. “I think Bones, TJ, and Clark — they definitely changed the game tonight.”

The game changed in an instant. Finch’s creativity worked. The Wolves forced Portland to shoot 4 of 19 from the floor in the fourth quarter, 1 of 10 from deep, and commit four turnovers. It was just the kind of defensive hold Edwards needed to put his team on his back — like an MVP does — and lead his squad to an improbable road win.

Edwards dropped 10 of his record-setting 41 points in the fourth quarter, shooting 4 of 4 from the field, the same number of field goals the Blazers had as a team in the fourth.

Games like this aren’t unusual for Ant. If anything, they happen so frequently that they aren’t in the least bit surprising. Still, Edwards needs to be this player more often than he has been if he wants to complete both of his goals. Ant doesn’t need to drop 40 points every night to win MVP, but his greatness must become inevitable like it was in Portland.