Timberwolves All-Star drops first 50-point game in front of legendary rapper

It was quite an eventful evening as the Minnesota Timberwolves returned to action Tuesday night at the Target Center. Acclaimed rapper 50-Cent was in the building, repping T-Wolves gear and showing his support courtside. Meanwhile, Jordan McLaughlin and assistant coach Micah Nori celebrated their April 9 Birthdays ahead of the Timberwolves' matchup with the Washington Wizards.

It seemed the team ate too much cake pregame, as they came out sluggish to start the first half. Matters only got worse when Naz Reid was ejected eight minutes into the game after a flagrant two-foul. The Wolves were down as many as 21 points in the first quarter, with the top seed in the Western Conference on the line.

With Reid watching from the locker room, Nickeil Alexander-Walker provided the spark the Wolves needed to swing momentum off the bench. His energy on defense and aggressiveness on offense immediately impacted the game, as coach Finch pointed out postgame, crediting Alexander-Walker with playing his best basketball these last few weeks.

Watching the chemistry build between Edwards and Alexander-Walker has been something to behold, as both thrive off each other's energy, hyping each other up from the bench. With their relentlessness in getting to the rim, both guards helped Minnesota cut the deficit to 10 points at halftime.

The Wolves battled their way back throughout the third quarter to tie up the game before Edwards took over. He made a tough stepback three to give Minnesota their first lead, followed by another knockdown triple before bringing the fans to their feet with a high-flying dunk and a nice setup for a Rudy Gobert throwdown to close out the quarter.

The Timberwolves never looked back in the fourth quarter as they were able to ride out their momentum to take the victory 130-121. Edwards scored 30 of his 51 points in the second half on a very efficient 17-of-29 shooting night from the field. Alexander-Walker scored 23 points in 31 minutes off the bench. Gobert was his usual double-double self with 19 points and 16 rebounds, while Mike Conley contributed a double-digit scoring performance with 15 points.

From 50-Cent to Nori's 50th Birthday to Edwards' 50-point performance, it was a night worth celebrating, even more so with the news of Karl Anthony Towns being cleared for full-contact activities. The Timberwolves are 12-5 without their All-Star big man, as everyone has shown their capabilities to step into a more significant role—Edwards' career-high was the icing on the cake.

With just three games left in the regular season and the Wolves still sitting atop the Western Conference, we'll see how Minnesota responds in a back-to-back as they fly toDenver to take on the defending Champion Nuggets tonight in a battle for first-place seeding in the playoffs.