3 Takeaways from Timberwolves’ surprising loss to Spurs
By Will Eudy
2. An off night for Anthony Edwards is bad news
On Monday night, it wasn’t a great night for many players on the Timberwolves’ roster. But one player’s impact on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ success as a team is arguably more important than the rest, and that player is Anthony Edwards.
Ant was coming off back-to-back 30-point games against the Jazz and Thunder, and he was shaking off the rust from his slow start in the season opener. But then Monday night came, and he scored just nine points on an abysmal 3-for-15 shooting from the field.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that nights where Edwards struggles severely in shooting the ball will lead to some rough outcomes for the Timberwolves. As the team’s presumptive number one scoring option, it’s not unlikely for the team’s offense to suffer when he’s not shooting well.
This reflects the narrative that the Timberwolves will only go as far as Anthony Edwards can take them. While his contributions are absolutely important, basketball is still a team game. So what Edwards can do in situations where he’s gone cold is rely more on his teammates. He has a host of talented players around him, and sometimes he may need to rely on them to set him up and put him in a position to be successful.
At the end of the day, Edwards is still young and his talent is limitless. These off nights are going to become less and less frequent for him.