With no Luka Doncic playing against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, as they faced the Dallas Mavericks, it was a game that everyone counted as an easy win. I mean, no win in the NBA is easy, but whenever you take out a guy who is an MVP candidate in Doncic, it definitely gets easier.
But the game was closer than it maybe should have been, and that's largely because Karl-Anthony Towns struggled a bit. He shot 3/12 on the night. KAT is the second guy on the team, but he finished as the last guy in terms of scoring out of the starting rotation.
The reason the Wolves were able to get out to such a big league during the beginning of the game is because of how crazy Anthony Edwards was playing.
He started the game on fire, and he finished it that way, too. Edwards finished with 44 points and, of course, continues to wow everyone. But what may be more impressive is the fact that he said he knew he was going to go off, all because he left too much meat on the bone when the Wolves played the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"I put it in my mind before the game, like, I'm probably going to shoot it every time I touch it. So, I came in with the mindset that whatever I was going to do, I was going to do," Edwards told some of the media after the win.
Anthony Edwards felt like he left some scoring on the floor against OKC. So tonight?
— Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) December 29, 2023
Edwards: "I put it in my mind before the game, like, I’m probably going to shoot it every time I touch it. So, I came in with the mindset that whatever I was going to do, I was going to do.”
The Wolves are now 23-7, which is crazy to write, let alone see on a screen. They have all of the pieces. But, a huge reason why is because of Edwards making that next level jump. He has transformed his game on both sides of the court. He is not only a better scorer now and becoming more efficient, but he is also becoming an elite defender.
It just so happened that Thursday night was going to be one of those night. He knew it was before the game even started.