Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves
Getty
Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves pushes back on the notion that losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals hurt him.
Anthony Edwards wasn’t a picture of despair after he lost to the league’s Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.
More often than not, the Minnesota Timberwolves star was grinning during his post-game press conference, while sitting alongside a downtrodden 37-year-old veteran Mike Conley.
“I don’t know why people would think it would hurt. It’s exciting for me,” Edwards told reporters. “I’m 23. I get to do it a whole bunch of times. I’m hurt more so for Mike. I came up short for Mike. We tried last year, but we couldn’t get it. We tried again this year. We’ll try again next year. But hurt is a terrible word to use. I’m good.”
Ant’s Promise
Edwards was a picture of defiance even after falling short of reaching the NBA Finals for the second straight season. He has obvious reasons. At 23, he has a long runway to get there.
However, for someone like Conley, he’s teetering on the edge of that runway.
His age showed on the court. He was scoreless in Game 5, missing all his three attempts. But worse, he was minus-21 in 21 minutes.
Conley will return next season on the final year of a two-year, $20.75 million deal. He will turn 38 in October.
Edwards vowed this wasn’t Conley’s last shot to experience the NBA Finals and take a shot at the elusive championship.
“I’m gonna work my butt off this summer,” Edwards said. “Nobody’s gonna work harder than me this summer, I’ll tell you that much. I’ll try to make it happen again for Mike.”
Minnesota’s Offseason Outlook
The Timberwolves are facing tough financial decisions this summer, whether to keep this core together or rebuild around Edwards.
Three key players of the Timberwolves rotation could become free agents. Julius Randle and Naz Reid have player options while Nickeil Alexander-Walker is now an unrestricted free agent.
Bringing all of them back will put them back to the second apron.
The Thunder, who were the better team throughout the season and dominated the Timberwolves in a one-sided series, are the second-youngest team in the league history to reach the NBA Finals.
They are not going anywhere. They are just starting to scratch their potential, which is the scary part.
“We lost our connectivity,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters after another Western Conference Finals meltdown. “But all credit to the Thunder. They certainly deserved this. They played outstanding. We came up short in a lot of ways.”
Thunder ‘Were the Better Team’
The Thunder held Edwards, the most prolific 3-point shooter in the whole NBA this season, to only 28.2% shooting from beyond the arc.
The ever-confident Edwards averaged 23.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists while shooting 47.1% from the field against the suffocating Thunder defense. His scoring took a big hit in the series after he averaged 27.6 points on 39.5% shooting from the 3-point line in the regular season.
In the series clincher, the Thunder came out like they were the team facing elimination.
They raced to double-digit leads that swelled to as many as 39 points.
Edwards only scored 19 points in the closeout game, hitting only 7-of-18 shots. He was a ghastly minus-29, the worst among all players from both teams, in the most important game of the season.
“They were the better team,” Edwards admitted. “They came out and beat us, punched us in the face and we lost the game, we lost the series.”