Edwards Confía en la Revancha Tras la Derrota de los Timberwolves
Despite the Minnesota Timberwolves’ resounding defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first game of the Western Conference Finals, the team’s star, Anthony Edwards, displayed his characteristic confidence.
Edwards, who scored only five points in the second half, finished the game with 18 points, the result of 5 of 13 shots. After the game, the player said he felt good and revealed the plan for the second game.
“I definitely have to shoot more,” Edwards said. “I only took 13 shots… I’ll probably get off the ball a little bit more, play off the ball. I think that’ll be the answer. Because playing with the ball, they’re just going to double-team and sit in the gaps all day.”
Anthony Edwards
Edwards’ 13 attempts were his fewest in the last 11 postseason games, and only one of those shots was from inside the paint. Edwards explained that the Thunder’s schemes dictated his approach in the first game. When asked if his right ankle, which he twisted in the first half, affected his performance, he replied that it did not.
“They clogged up the paint,” Edwards said. “That’s what they do. They don’t have a lot of height there, so they’re betting we don’t take shots, I guess. Because every time I go to the basket there’s like four people in the paint.”
The Timberwolves, who scored 72 points in Game 5 of the conference semifinals against the Golden State Warriors, only managed 20 points in the paint on Tuesday in Oklahoma City. This is the fewest points in the paint for the franchise in a playoff game since Game 1 of the 2004 conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, according to data.
Minnesota had a tough shooting night, hitting 29.4% from three (15 of 51), which represents the most three-point attempts in a playoff game in franchise history.
“We had good looks, we just have to knock them down,” said Donte DiVincenzo, who shot 3 of 12 from three off the bench. “Myself, I’ve got to make a couple of shots and that opens up the defense for Ant. It’s a domino effect.”
Other Minnesota players also struggled with shooting, including Nickeil Alexander-Walker (2 of 9), Mike Conley (1 of 5), and Naz Reid (0 of 7).
Coach Chris Finch explained that sometimes the passes arrived late and were not ready to shoot, but that despite this, good shooting opportunities were generated.
Edwards believes that if the Thunder are going to prevent him from shooting near the basket, he prefers to be the receiver of shooting opportunities instead of constantly passing the ball against double teams.
“I should be fine: play a little more without the ball, do a little more cardio,” Edwards said. “I should be fine.”
While Edwards was giving his post-game statements, his teammate Julius Randle was by his side. Randle led Minnesota with 28 points, the product of 9 of 13 shots, but only eight of those points were in the second half.
Finch commented that he needs to involve Randle more at the beginning of the second half.
However, Minnesota committed 19 turnovers, which resulted in 31 points for the Thunder.
The Wolves lost the first game against the Warriors, and then won four games in a row to advance. Randle noted that they can’t simply rely on a Game 2 win based on that experience.
“We showed that we can do it, but we have to make it a reality,” Randle said. “We can’t just say, ‘Okay, we did it in the last series… we’re going to do it again.’ This is a great team. They’ve been playing great basketball all year. So, the good thing is we showed ourselves that we can do it. But we have to make it a reality.”
