The Wolves Found Some Swagger Without Ant In Charlotte

The camera zoomed in on Anthony Edwards on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ bench early on in Saturday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets. He was in street clothes, sitting out of his third-straight game after suffering a right hamstring strain. Edwards was sipping a smoothie while wearing wrap-around black sunglasses.

It looked like Edwards didn’t have a care in the world, but that was probably just his natural swagger masking what was really on his mind. Two days before, Austin Reaves hit a game-winner at the horn against the Wolves, who fell to 2-3 on the season.

Minnesota’s issues ahead of Saturday’s game were glaring. They ranked 27th in defensive rating. Their offense had been inconsistent. More than anything, they missed Edwards, his electric scoring, and his isolation defense.

The Wolves have also missed his swagger on the court, which isn’t returning for a bit longer. On Wednesday, Edwards watched Reaves hit the game-winner helplessly from the bench. On Saturday, Ant could do nothing to help the Wolves get back on track, but his teammates still managed to do so, pulling out a 122-105 win.

They beat the Hornets by collectively generating their own swagger, something that must continue as long as Edwards is confined to the bench.

“We miss a little bit of personality, a little bit of swagger, without Anthony,” Chris Finch told Paul Allen on KFAN on Thursday. “He’s got so much of it. He gives us confidence. He infuses his teammates with the same type of energy. … We’ve got to find a little bit more of a personality without him.”

Not only has Minnesota struggled to define its own personality and swagger without Edwards, but one player has dominated the Wolves in every game leading up to Saturday, further eroding their confidence and compounding their identity issues.

• In Game 1 of the season, Jerami Grant had 29 points in 28 minutes off the bench.
• Luka Dončić erupted for 49 points in Game 2.
• In Game 3, Pascal Siakam scored 33 points.
• In Game 4, Jamal Murray finished with 43.
• And in Game 5, Reaves recorded 28 points, 16 assists, and that game-winner.

It seemed like Saturday’s game was going to follow a similar tune. After the first quarter, Miles Bridges was already up to 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting. Meanwhile, Julius Randle, who has been a beacon of hope this season, was doing his thing by scoring 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting. However, the Wolves still looked like they didn’t have swagger.

Then, in the second quarter, Bridges scored only three points. Still, both teams scored 25 points in the frame, and the Hornets closed on a 10-2 run to give them a six-point lead.

Minnesota’s opposition had momentum at halftime, and that has been a death sentence for the Wolves’ chances of winning this season.

Winning teams win the third quarter. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the Wolves, who haven’t played winning basketball, have also struggled in the third quarter. Entering Saturday’s game, they had been outscored by 24 in the third on the season. The Denver Nuggets hung 45 points on the Wolves in the third quarter last week, and the Los Angeles Lakers scored 35 points.

Had the Wolves lost the third quarter on Saturday, they would have trailed by more than six points entering the fourth quarter, and the Hornets would have had all the swagger and confidence needed to win. If that had happened, it would have been a loud wake-up call for the team.

However, signs in the first half indicated that it wouldn’t be the case.

It’s hard to say that any game is a must-win for a team missing its best player so early in the season. Still, Saturday felt like a must-win for the Wolves, especially after Collin Sexton inadvertently hit Donte DiVincenzo in the face with his elbow.

DiVincenzo had a broken nose. When he emerged back on Minnesota’s bench, it looked like an NHL defenseman had shoulder-checked him. It was the type of injury that could easily have sidelined DiVincenzo for the rest of the game. However, he’s a tough individual and probably realized the importance of a win. Donte remained in the game and ended up scoring 14 points on 4 of 8 from deep in the second half.

“I thought we did a much better job as a team in the second half,” Rudy Gobert said on the FanDuel broadcast after the game. “We came out in the third more physical and forced them into tougher shots.”

The Wolves won the third quarter by 18 points. They forced the Hornets to commit seven turnovers and shoot 7 of 21 from the floor and 0 of 9 from deep.

After back-to-back poor performances at Target Center, Gobert spearheaded the energy shift for Minnesota in the third. He scored six points, pulled in 11 rebounds, and was much more of a presence defensively than he was in the first half.

For Minnesota to regain its defensive identity, it will be vital that Gobert remains a presence. Jaylen Clark must be on the court as much as possible, too. He returned to the lineup against the Hornets after missing two games with a calf strain. It was no coincidence that the Wolves looked more like themselves, even if it was against a relatively unserious Hornets team.

Things hit a crescendo with just under eight minutes left in the fourth. Jaden McDaniels tossed a lob to Naz Reid, who finished it with a 360-dunk. Hornets fans were silent, as the scattering of Wolves fans in the stands cheered. Wolves assistant coach James White was in amazement on the bench. It was the type of highlight-reel play that Edwards usually authors, but this time, he was no different than a fan cheering from the crowd.

Minnesota not only needed to beat the Hornets, but needed to beat them by a lot. A close win where Charlotte could have won at the buzzer — like Reaves and the Lakers did — would not have been good enough. The Wolves needed to beat up the Hornets and prove they can have swagger even without Edwards.

It isn’t a groundbreaking formula. The Wolves need Randle to keep setting the tone with All-Star-level play. They need Gobert to be a consistent positive force and Clark to check into games and wreck opponents’ offensive game plans. They need every player to have the same level of fight that DiVincenzo had after breaking his nose.

When those things happen, it leads to plays like the lob to Naz in the fourth and, ultimately, to winning basketball with Edwards sidelined.

In the final minutes on Saturday, Edwards was comfortably sprawled back out on the bench with his shades on after much jumping out of excitement in the third. Hopefully, Edwards will be back on the court soon, jumping to complete throwdowns and sparking the team when they need him the most.

But until that happens, the Wolves must produce their own swag, which drives winning basketball. They will always miss Ant’s unique-to-himself spark. However, for the first time since he went down, the Wolves found a way on Saturday to spark their own collective swag.