Anthony Edwards has taken his decision making to another level in this year’s playoffs, and it’s why the Timberwolves have their first ever 3-0 series lead in franchise history and are one victory away from advancing to the second round for the second time ever.
The Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night defeated the Phoenix Suns 126-109 to take their first 3-0 series lead in franchise history and move one step closer to advancing to the second round for the first time since 2004, and second time in franchise history.
Franchise cornerstone Anthony Edwards is a big reason for that. He helped the Timberwolves earn their second-best regular season record in club history at 56-26,is primed to be selected to an All-NBA team for his performance this season, and will be a participant in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France this summer. He will be the first Timberwolf to represent Team USA since Kevin Love won Gold in 2012.
Edwards improved nearly every facet of his game after his first All-Star appearance last season. He showed off a deeper mid-range game and knocked down a higher percentage of his attempts from the charity stripe. He became a better defender, averaging the least amount of fouls in his career (tied with his rookie campaign) while playing the second most minutes per game in his career.
But the most important development to Edwards’ game has been the improved playmaking and decision-making. Edwards learning when to give the ball up and hit teammates in stride instead of solely calling his own number to attack offensively is vital to the team’s overall success. This improvement is why Ant-Man recorded a career best 5.1 assists per game and the Timberwolves lead 3-0 in this series.
Edwards’ decision-making has taken another leap in this year’s playoffs, and is the best it has looked at any point in his career. The Suns have opted to play a loaded defense on the two-time All-Star the entire series. This defensive concept is an all-out Suns team effort to limit Edwards and make other Timberwolves beat them. Help defenders are set in positions to plug gaps on the floor to limit penetration and to alleviate the pressure Ant puts on the rim.
The biggest downside to this type of defensive structure is that defenders are helping from one pass away, which usually leads to an easy pass to a wide open player on the perimeter. Most of Edwards’ teammates on the floor with him are solid 3-point shooters and can handle the ball attacking off the catch in space, so it hasn’t worked out too well for Phoenix. Edwards has continuously made the right play over and over again throughout every game, but Game 3 was the most impressive one yet.
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This possession highlights the importance of Ant getting off the ball. Royce O’Neale is applying a ton of ball pressure here and reaching for the basketball as Edwards begins to size him up in isolation. Ant sees that Bradley Beal is shading over to the left wing to help plug the gaps on the right slide of the floor to prevent dribble drive penetration. Edwards makes the simple read one pass away over to Mike Conley, who has a ton of space to operate off the catch. Beal shadowing Ant leaves Conley with this much space, which unlocks a dynamic, versatile attack with several options. Conley immediately drives right off the catch and easily gets into the heart of the defense. Jusuf Nurkić has to account for Conley on the drive and force the veteran point guard to make a decision. Conley opts to drop the pass off to a cutting Rudy Gobert on the baseline, but Conley also could have taken his patented floater, and if Nurkić picked him higher, it might have been an easy lob over the top to Gobert. This varied potential shot selection is only possible because of Edwards making the right play and not letting the basketball get sticky.
Ant one possession later makes the proper read again. Karl-Anthony Towns and Edwards are running a pick-and-roll action at the logo. Beal opts to go over the screen and O’Neale is meeting Ant well above the 3-point line. This shuts down any potential for Ant to use his explosiveness and athleticism to get to his preferred spots, unless he were to force it. Edwards makes the easy ball reversal back to Towns who drains the 31-foot shot to put three points on the scoreboard.
Here is another pick-and-roll possession between KAT and Ant with the action moving towards the left side of the floor. Similar to the prior possession, Beal goes over the screen and O’Neale greets Edwards at the level of the pick. The two Suns defenders continuously creep towards Ant begging him to get off the ball. But he reverses the ball back to the right side of the floor with a simple between-the-legs escape dribble and passes to an open Towns, who drives over the smaller defender in Beal and puts up a driving floater that finds the bottom of the net for another two points. The Suns are loading up on Ant so much that by the time he swings it to the next teammate one pass away, the defense is way too late to rotate and allows everyone else on the team to create in a variety of ways.
Here is a possession where the Suns do not load up on the 22-year-old star. Edwards blows by Eric Gordon going baseline, drawing three Phoenix defenders into the painted area. He makes an extremely difficult, yet successful, bounce pass to Jaden McDaniels in the left corner. McDaniels opts to attack off the catch going full steam to the rim. Jaden attempts to play off of two feet and gets blocked, but had he waited a second more and looked away from the rim, both Naz Reid and Conley are wide open on the perimeter for high quality looks at 3-point attempts. It’s important to not let the result of McDaniels getting blocked dictate whether it was a smart decision or not to attack Nurkić off the dribble — that happens, it’s part of the game. If McDaniels was able to kick this back out on the drive attempt, it just leads to another shot type, which further extends into the variability this offense can have playing in Head Coach Chris Finch’s free-flowing, quick decision-making scheme. Again, this is all possible because Edwards is making the right reads.
Here is another example. The possession begins with McDaniels setting an on-ball screen on Beal that gets a switch — a matchup the Timberwolves prefer with Nurkić attempting to check Ant in isolation on the perimeter. Edwards makes quick work of him, getting more dribble drive penetration off a simple hesitation move. Booker is again forced to rotate over to stop the rim pressure and Kevin Durant is now forced to split the gap between Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the right corner or Reid on the right wing. Ant again makes the right read and delivers another tough pass to Reid, who hoists up another long-range attempt.
In this possession Ant beats Beal easily off the dribble going left. This penetration has all five Suns defenders with their feet planted in the painted area. When Edwards picks up his dribble, Reid is wide open on the left wing, McDaniels is wide open in the left corner, and NAW is cutting to the right corner. A healthy plethora of shooters in prime positions for catch-and-shoot opportunities. Ant pump fakes to get Beal out of position, and perfectly executes a step through to force Drew Eubanks off his feet to contest a potential shot. The right play is again made and it leads to a wide open three point shot.
These are all more examples of Ant getting off the ball when Phoenix loads up on him, either through sending a double to get it out of his hands early, or when his gravity forces Suns defenders to rotate to stop him.
Beyond his playmaking, Ant has done a phenomenal job not only of determining when to call his own shots, but also making the right play when doing so. Edwards needs to take shots to keep 1) Phoenix’s defense honest and 2) himself in a rhythm throughout the flow of the game. The playmaking he’s showcased all series, especially in Game 3 is not possible if he isn’t actively looking to score the basketball and be in a constant attack mode. There is not a single defender on the Suns roster that is remotely capable of stopping Ant from getting whatever he wants without the rest of the defense loading up on him or sending constant help. Ant poured in an efficient 36 points on 12-23 shooting overall despite going 1-5 from long range. Grayson Allen, Edwards’ primary defender in Games 1 and 2, missing Game 3 certainly didn’t help the Suns, either.
This possession is initiated with McDaniels setting a screen on Beal which forces Durant to switch onto Edwards on the right wing. McDaniels rolls early in the action and Beal has to pick him up as his new defensive assignment so as to not allow a free run to the rim.. This creates plenty of space for Edwards to operate in. He explodes out of a simple between-the-legs right-to-left crossover to beat Durant off the dribble. Ant keeps KD attached to his hip and he’s able to rise up for a nice floater attempt that finds the bottom of the net.
Here is another example of the Suns’ failing to force Ant to get rid of the ball to a teammate. Kyle Anderson sets an on-ball screen to shed O’Neale as Edwards’ defender and it creates a huge advantage for the Wolves, as Eubanks is now tasked with defending Ant in isolation, a matchup Minnesota would take every single time down the floor if possible. Gordon begins shading over to double team Ant, but at this point it’s too late. Edwards has already sized up his defender and is able to get to the rim with little resistance because there is no help in the gaps to stop his dribble drive penetration. It doesn’t result in a bucket, but the bigger picture is that he is picking the right moments to attack and isn’t forcing anything.
Here is another example of Edwards understanding when to call his own number. Gobert is running a pick-and-roll action with Edwards and Beal opts to go over the screen. This gives Ant enough separation to get downhill. He eventually spins back towards the middle of the floor and uses his strength to his advantage and puts Beal on his backside and nails a 10-foot uncontested jumper. This is another case of Phoenix failing to force Edwards’ hand to give the ball up.
These are all examples that further hammer home the point that when the Suns can’t load up effectively, Ant can get whatever shot he wants anywhere on the floor.
The Wolves can find a ton more success with Edwards on the wing, first letting the action develop on the strong side, and then attacking a scrambling defense when the ball reverses and gets back to him on the weak side before the Suns can get set up with their guys in the gaps. Edwards is the second-best playmaker on this roster behind Conley, and he is the best offensive player on the roster. So, the ball should be in his hands more often than not, but getting some more structured sets that have dummy actions intended to stretch Phoenix out before getting Ant the ball and having him attack off the catch would be beneficial. It might be especially helpful to run these early in the game to more quickly get Edwards into a rhythm. This way, he can find his shot naturally, as opposed to the Suns scheme forcing him to get off the ball.
Anthony Edwards has been setting up teammates beautifully all series long and it’s a big reason why the Wolves have their first ever 3-0 lead in a playoff series in franchise history. The Suns came into this series intent on stopping Edwards, and he’s taken his decisiveness and playmaking to new heights to dismantle them.