The Minnesota Timberwolves left Detroit on Saturday with an ugly 119-105 loss to the Pistons. And yet, they should be heading back to the Twin Cities with optimism for what lies ahead. It was not enough to lift the Wolves to a win, but Anthony Edwards' new career-high 53 points in Detroit was one of the best possible outcomes this team could have asked for.
Now you might say I'm wrong, and that the best scenario the team could have envisioned was a win. While winning remains the biggest and most important thing for Minnesota, Edwards erupting for 53 should serve to set them on the right path going forward.
We had just gotten done talking about Ant's individual struggles after the Timberwolves' loss to the Boston Celtics on Thursday. In that game, he scored 15 points, which concluded an eight-game stretch where he was averaging below 20 points in scoring average. His inability to play like he is used to had become a major point of discussion.
After the Celtics game, Edwards got candid about his struggles, admitting that he does not want to be distributing over scoring, since he knows that is what is best for this team. He openly said that being taken out of his usual focus on offense had been frustrating.
Edwards made a major correction to his scoring struggles
Now, in one game, we saw all that conversation get turned on its head. After being hampered by cramped driving lanes and double teams for weeks on end, Ant put his head down and embraced his scoring mentality in a big way. Was it a result of all the noise from just a few nights ago? Very possibly.
Edwards put on an absolute clinic against the Pistons. He made 16 of his 31 shot attempts and made an astounding 10 three-pointers on staggering efficiency. Obviously his effort by itself was not enough to lift Minnesota to a win, but this was easily his best individual performance of the season.
Why then, is this result the best case scenario for a Timberwolves team still trying to gain ground in the standings? After losing two in a row, they should have wanted this win more than anything, right? I would have agreed with that sentiment going into the game. But after seeing what Edwards did in his 44 minutes (!) of action, it is clear that him being able to find some answers for himself on offense was the best result possible.
When a team's best player does not look like himself, it is never going to bode well for the group's performance in the long-term. In my mind, finding a way to get Ant going had become one of Minnesota's top priorities. There was no clear answer or formula as to how to make that happen, but Edwards went out and accomplished it on his own volition. Him seeing the ball go in the basket like this sets a good precedent for the future.