T-Wolves’ Anthony Edwards had an elite remark to Jayson Tatum before OT
By Justin Lee
I hate to be that guy, especially right off rip in the first sentence of this article, but the Minnesota Timberwolves are a team that is going to be feared. It may not end up being this year, it may be this year, but what we do know is this team can play with anyone. We saw that on Monday night.
It’s not quite cold outside yet, so it doesn’t really feel like basketball weather, but it’s here, nonetheless. The buzzers are still sounding, whistles are still blowing, and Anthony Edwards is still trash-talking his opponents. Those are the three components of knowing if the sport is truly back. Although, that last one has some more juice to it than normal.
This feels like the year Anthony Edwards takes a huge leap. He is the guy for the Timberwolves right now, but he still has a lot to learn and a lot of areas he can improve. As far as the areas he can improve, we saw that in the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics.
“I let my teammates down in the fourth,” Edwards said post-game.
And, in a way, he did. Edwards went 0/3 from the field with every shot he took in the fourth, which was under five minutes. Some of those shots, especially the two under two minutes, were pretty poor shots, whether it be pull-up jumpers five seconds into the shot clock or dribbling the clock out and taking a contested jumper.
The Timberwolves went into the fourth quarter with a lead and exited the fourth with the game tied. Edwards was not happy with himself, but he didn’t lose his composure. Overtime is where he was going to make his money. He knew that; his teammates knew that, and now his opponent knows it.
“I’m comin’ again,” Edwards said to Tatum after the end of regulation buzzer.
The young phenom was not lying. He exploded in overtime and had a showing that we really hadn’t seen before. We have, just not in the capacity of playing the best team in overtime and taking over so much so that you look like the best player on the court over Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Anthony Edwards scored eight of his game-high 38 points in overtime right after talking trash to Tatum, who Edwards said started it first. It was a burst that was much needed out of the Timberwolves’ star, as Mike Conley had only made a few buckets at that point, and Karl-Anthony Towns was struggling himself.
After beating the Boston Celtics, the Timberwolves are looking like a team that will compete in 2023-24. The Celtics are likely the best team in the league and hadn’t lost a game before they played the Timberwolves on Monday night.
Like Chris Funch, the Timberwolves head coach said, though, you have to stack wins, and that’s how we will know this team is ready. This was one step. But, what we do know is that Anthony Edwards is always ready, no matter what happened the quarter before.
