2 young rising stars gore Bulls, set stage for solid Wolves 2023-24 season
By Bret Stuter
![Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/728df9977a1205a25091efdb1a1215a1033f11caf9fc554425519024dd024776.jpg)
Ant-Man heroics deliver again
The game appeared to be another hotly contested one, with the first quarter showing a feisty Bulls team that had every intention of winning this one. And they fought hard for a preseason game, which seems to have been the overarching theme for the Timberwolves all preseason.
But if there is one player in the NBA who loves the competition and never quits, it’s the 22-year-old Timberwolves All-Star shooting guard, Anthony Edwards. After opening the game with three missed shots, the concern was that this simply was not going to be Ant-Man’s night. But that was misleading.
After falling behind by four points with less than six minutes remaining in the first quarter, Anthony Edwards sprang to life. He would hit his next four shots, including a three-pointer, plus a free throw (8 points), which would push the Timberwolves back in front. He would add one more score to close out the quarter, pushing his scoring up to 10 points, but he wasn’t done yet.
After the Bulls rallied behind forward DeMar DeRozan to reclaim the lead at 39-38, Edwards went back to work. He drove to the basket with a fury to retake the lead, and then followed that up moments later with a slam dunk that appeared to be right out of a video game:
Anthony Edwards 1st half...
— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) October 20, 2023
20 MIN
19 PTS
5 RBS
8/13 FG
2/4 3PT
and this thunderous slam.... pic.twitter.com/zLGObceW2R
My goodness.
He even nailed another perimeter shot to ensure that the Timberwolves would hold the lead at halftime.
By the game’s end, Anthony Edwards’s stat line appeared every bit to be in mid-season form:
20 minutes | 19 points | 61.5 FG% | 50.0 3PT% | 5 rebounds | 1 assist | (+/-) +4
But he was not the only young gun who came to play hard in this one. Let’s pivot to another young rising star on the Timberwolves roster: