Anthony Edwards delivered a mind-blowing performance in Game 3 of the second-round, pouring in 32 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists. You would never know that he was just 13 days removed from his second knee injury since March. A game like this in the playoffs should be remembered as an iconic Ant game where he helped put the Wolves up 2-1.
In the end, though, it wasn't enough, as the Minnesota Timberwolves fell short 115-108 to the San Antonio Spurs.
This game reminded the Wolves of a familiar concern: The lack of consistent creation next to Edwards. To be clear, this isn't a criticism of Ant; he did everything he possibly could to put the Wolves in a position to win.
It's also worth noting that Naz Reid (18 points) and Rudy Gobert (13 points) had productive games. Yet both Reid and Gobert are play finishers rather than creators. In fairness, Reid had some nice moments creating for himself in Game 3, but it's not his bread and butter.
Nevertheless, the three players Minnesota mainly counts on for secondary creation, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, and Ayo Dosunmu, combined for 12-for-46 shooting. Simply put, that won't cut it against an impressive Spurs squad.
The Timberwolves need to find more consistent creation outside of Ant
Now, you could argue Victor Wembanyama's supporting cast also didn't play well. While this is true from a scoring/efficiency standpoint, they were able to create good looks for Wemby with their playmaking. Dosunmu was the only Timberwolves player of the three names previously mentioned to make a positive playmaking impact.
The Wolves' problems truly popped up down the stretch of the game. While other Wolves players were setting up the offense, and the ball movement was solid, it wasn't leading to good results. As such, the Spurs were able to focus most of their efforts on stopping Edwards -- and it worked, as he only had four shot attempts in the fourth quarter.
Jaden McDaniels shot 1-for-10 from the field in the fourth quarter, and his inability to make shots significantly derailed the Wolves' chances of winning.
You could argue that Ant playing 41 minutes with his injuries ultimately caught up to him, or that Chris Finch must find ways to get him more shots. Regardless, there's no denying that when you only have one player who is generating offense at a high level, it can be game-planned against -- and the Spurs exposed this.
I don't want to be too hard on the trio of McDaniels, Randle, and Ayo. All three of them have stepped up at times throughout the playoffs (especially McDaniels and Ayo).
Still, whether the Wolves could find consistent secondary creation has been a major question throughout the season. And now that the Wolves are playing against an elite defense, we are seeing this question being brought to light again. Game 2's blowout loss showed how ugly things can look when Ant's not on his A-Game.
It will be imperative for McDaniels, Randle, and Ayo to prove that this is simply a bad two-game stretch and not the norm. Otherwise, it's hard to see the Wolves winning this series.
Add us as a preferred source on Google