With the Minnesota Timberwolves facing the prospect of falling behind 0-3 in the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Anthony Edwards put the team on his back in Game 3 to get the Wolves back into the series. Prior to the game, Edwards had been selected to the All-NBA Second Team, and that had actually been a fueling point for his breakout performance of the series, but not in the way one might think.
Before the All-NBA teams were announced ahead of Game 3, Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards was remarking to his training Chris Hine, that he felt like he didn’t deserve to be on any of the All-NBA teams due to his performances in the first two games of the Western Conference Finals, as per Sam Amick of The Athletic.
“But Edwards’ harsh self-criticism wasn’t a statement about his regular season so much as it was an honest opinion about how he had handled the latest playoff challenge with the 23-year-old aware that the only way out of this hole was for him to lead the way out,” Amick reported.
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Edwards led the way for the Timberwolves in their 143-101 Game 3 domination of the Thunder. He finished with a game-high 30 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals in 30 minutes. He shot 12-of-17 (70.5 percent) from the field and 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from the three-point line.
During the Timberwolves Game 1 loss, Edwards finished with 18 points, but shot only 5-of-13 from the field and 3-of-8 from the three-point line. In the Game 2 loss, Edwards finished with 32 points on 12-of-26 shooting from the field, but only 1-of-9 from the three-point line.
Edwards is the Wolves best weapon to help counter Thunder star and MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Heading into another pivotal game in Game 4, the Wolves are going to need him to have a similar performance to Game 3 if they want to head back to Oklahoma tied at two games apiece.
a]:text-link [&_>a]:underline">David Yapkowitz is a basketball journalist for ClutchPoints, writing news on the NBA, WNBA, and NCAA Basketball for both men and women. The Los Angeles native has bylines with Basketball Insiders, SB Nation, and The Next Hoops.