In a turbulent game during which a number of things went wrong for the Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards reminded everyone what an eraser of mistakes he can be.
When everything else was crumbling on Sunday, it was the 21-year-old guard who truly lifted the Timberwolves out of the rubble and into their preferred play-in game. He tallied a number of massive defensive plays and rebounds while also scoring 24 points to power Minnesota to a 113-108 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at Target Center.
The win gives the Timberwolves the No. 8 seed in the play-in tournament. They will need to win just one of two play-in games to go back to the playoffs. The first of those will come Tuesday, when they travel to play the Lakers in Los Angeles. A win there means Minnesota will be the No. 7 seed and get a first-round rematch with second-seeded Memphis.
A loss to the Lakers, and the Wolves will play Friday at home with a chance to be the No. 8 seed to set up a playoff date with Denver.
“At the end of the day … we wanted the eighth seed, so we’ve got to win. That’s what I had in my mind,” Edwards said. “And the other four guys on the court was playing just as hard. So we came out on top.”
Edwards’ loudest play Sunday came in the closing minutes, when Pelicans guard CJ McCollum appeared to be free to walk into the lane for an easy dunk. But Edwards came over help side and met the guard at the rim, sending the ball away.
“Low-man principles,” Edwards said. “I was super late (rotating), but god gave me this athletic ability, I might as well use it on both ends of the floor, not just one end.”
That was the exclamation point on a day during which Edwards provided the stiffest challenge to Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram.
Ingram finished with 42 points, but just seven of those came in the final quarter. The forward took only three shots in the closing quarter as Edwards took on the challenge of slowing him down.
“I just tried to be as physical as I can, man. I’m super strong. I’ve been guarding him for three years since I’ve been in the league, and I’ve always noticed the contact, he don’t really like the contact, the physicality,” Edwards said. “He wants the smooth game where he can get to his spot and raise. He still was getting there and making the shots, but I was just trying to make it tough and being physical.”
That defense was the differentiator for Minnesota. With Ingram taking a backseat, the Pelicans made just 7 of 20 shots from the field in the fourth period. This in a game where Rudy Gobert was sent home in the second quarter after a mid-timeout altercation with Kyle Anderson, and Jaden McDaniels broke his hand while punching a wall.
Edwards made up for most all of that by controlling the defensive end largely by himself.
“Normally he’s, like, putting a lot of juice in the gym with his offense,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Tonight, I think it was his defense that lifted us up more than anything else.”
Edwards received loud M-V-P chants from the Target Center faithful as he knocked down a free throw to put Minnesota up by five points with 20 seconds to play. Edwards committed what could have been a costly turnover with 15 seconds to play and Minnesota up three, but the Wolves delivered a couple of stops from there to seal the game.
The Timberwolves rallied from multiple double-digit deficits in the game but always stayed close enough to remain in striking distance. It did so with the help of center Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 30 points on the strength of five made triples.
The extracurriculars Sunday were very Timberwolves-like, with the worst-case scenario playing out on multiple occasions, as it often has during the franchise’s history.
The on-court play, though, was not reminiscent of much this town has seen from its professional basketball team. Timberwolves guard Mike Conley called Sunday “one of the grittier” wins anyone on the team “will ever be a part of.” And it came in a massive spot.
“Hit after hit, we just found a way to lean on each other. The most important thing is we could have easily splintered,” Conley said. “But it just brought more out of us. We dug down deep. … That’s a huge win in a big time of the season. Just proud of the guys sticking with it.”
Those are the types of efforts Minnesota must carry forward to achieve postseason success. They’re certainly well-practiced at battling through adversity.
“This team was tough to begin with, and I think having these situations happen in big moments and must-win situations and you find a way to win, it sets you up going forward,” Conley said. “You’re going to be in hostile environments, guys are going to be in foul trouble, things not going your way and you can look up and say, ‘Hey we can still win this game.’ ”
