In the past, Anthony Edwards would show up against opponents like the Washington Wizards and essentially get in some light cardio, essentially relying on his teammates to push the Wolves past whichever cellar dweller was on the docket that evening.
But more than a week ago, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch challenged the 22-year-old guard to take a more serious approach, regardless of the opponent.
“Usually these games I come out and don’t have no energy and look like I don’t want to be here, and Finchy been gettin on my (butt) about that the last couple games,” Edwards said last week after Minnesota’s win over Toronto. “So I tried to come out with the approach that I would take as if we was playing a team that was super good.”
For good measure, Finch delivered a similar message ahead of Minnesota’s bout Tuesday. The Timberwolves have a massive contest Wednesday in Denver that will likely decide who gets the No. 1 seed in the conference. But first, Minnesota had to take care of the short-handed, hapless Wizards.
And to guarantee the proper outcome, Minnesota needed Edwards to perform.
“I thank him man, he put me in the office two or three days ago and said, ‘Look man, we’ve got this Washington game and we need to win it, need to come ready to play and you can’t treat it like any other game,'” Edwards recalled.
Message received.
Edwards scored a career-high 51 points to lead Minnesota back from a 21-point first quarter deficit to down Washington 130-121 at Target Center.
“I thought it was an unbelievable performance with the maturity and staying in the flow,” Finch said.
That was critical, especially in a game that hung in the balance for much of the night. Minnesota trailed by 10 at the half on a night where Naz Reid — the Wolves’ No. 2 scorer of late — was ejected in the first half for a flagrant foul.
Then Edwards captained a third quarter explosion, netting 17 points in the frame.
Then, down the stretch in the fourth, Edwards smelled his personal record. He attacked Washington’s defense with hyper-aggression. His previous career high was 49 points, and he’d attempted to push for 50, often to only be denied by circumstance and some suspect shot selection.
That didn’t exist Tuesday. Sitting at 47, Edwards did take one 3-point attempt that clanked off the iron. The next possession, he got to the rim for a bucket. Then, on the ensuing trip, he drove, drew multiple defenders and actually kicked out to a shooter. It wasn’t until the following trip down the floor when he drove again for the bucket to push him over the top.
When Edwards finally converted a layup to get to 51 with two minutes to play, the 22-year-old guard held up a “50” with five fingers on one hand and a closed fist on the other as the crowd greeted him with a standing ovation.
The shear tally is gaudy, but the method to get there was truly impressive. Edwards went 17 for 29 from the field and 6 for 13 from deep. He was a perfect 11 for 11 from the free-throw line.
“That’s the way you get to 50. It’s not a volume thing. It’s an efficiency thing,” Finch said. “These things come. At times, when Ant has hunted things, I’ve just said, ‘You know, you’re going to be in the League for a long time, you’re going to have many nights where you have opportunities to get these big nights. They’re going to come to you if you keep playing the basketball game the way it should be played. And that’s what he did tonight, so I’m proud of him.”
Scoring 50 points, Finch noted, is physically taxing. Edwards concurred.
So when Edwards was asked about the possibility of one day scoring 60 or even 70, he knew it wasn’t a guarantee.
“I mean hopefully I get there — 50 is tiring though,” Edwards said. “I don’t know about 60 or 70, I don’t know how people get 60, I don’t know how Kobe got 81 — 50 is tiring. (Maybe) if I get in better shape.”
His conditioning will certainly be tested Wednesday, when Minnesota heads to altitude to take on the Nuggets for the biggest game of the season. The unfortunate part of Minnesota sleepwalking out of the gates defensively Tuesday was it had to play meaningful basketball to the very end of the contest. Rudy Gobert and Edwards each logged 38 minutes. Denver did also play Tuesday in Utah.
Both squads had to fly to Colorado after the game and get as ready as possible for Wednesday’s titanic tilt. But Edwards has always gotten up for the biggest games of the year. He will undoubtedly do the same in Denver.
“I think everyone know what is at stake,” Edwards said. “I don’t even need to talk about how big it is, everybody know.”
The major maturation of late is that he’s treating the other contests in a similar light, with a little assistance from Finch.
“Just coming in and killing ’em,” Edwards said. “I’m tried of him telling me to take them serious, at some point I have to do it myself.”
Maybe he’s getting there.
“I thought he played an outstanding game in LA (on Sunday against the Lakers). It was important for him to come in and keep playing in that manner,” Finch said. “Then these are the games where you give yourself a chance to do something special as well. Sometimes he can be too passive, as you’ve seen, trying to get his teammates going. He drives so much of what we do. It’s important that he’s always doing it.
