Anthony Edwards:Wolves win Game 1 after Anthony Edwards outduels Nikola Jokic.

Anthony Edwards

– Another young star may describe what happened in the first game of the second round as a statement performance if you questioned him about going into the building of the defending champions and scoring a career-high 43 points in a 106-99 victory.

If he was truly in the mood, he could claim that the Minnesota Timberwolves’ victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night marked a radical change in the Western Conference’s power dynamics.

But Anthony Edwards isn’t your typical young star of today. He may not resemble any other young player in the history of the league.

“Introducing yourself to no one is not the point. When asked about Minnesota making it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in twenty years, Edwards responded, “We know who we are.” “We’re coming out and as long as we got each other’s backs, it don’t really matter what anybody else thinks.”

Kevin Garnett

In light of the fact that Kevin Garnett and the Wolves defeated the Sacramento Kings in the second round of the 2004 NBA Playoffs, Edwards joked that he might not even have been alive at the time.

Despite their previous postseason struggles, Wolves are currently enjoying their time. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, it’s currently 5-0 in the playoffs, including a rout of the Phoenix Suns in the first round.

Edwards, along with Kobe Bryant, is the only other player in NBA postseason history to have consecutive 40-point games at age 22 or younger.

timberwolves vs nuggets

 

The most points ever scored by a player for the Wolves in a three-game stretch in postseason history was Edwards’ 119 points during his last three playoff games.

And he accomplished it on Saturday by outperforming Nikola Jokic, the current MVP of the NBA Finals and one of this year’s top three contenders for regular-season MVP.

Nikola Jokic,

Nuggets

 

“To be honest, he’s a special player, I have huge respect for him, he can do everything on the floor,” Jokic remarked regarding Edwards. “You need to give him respect, how good and how talented he is.”

Jokic ended with a game-high seven turnovers in addition to his 32 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and three steals. However, he only shot 11 for 25 from the field (2 for 9 from three).

In response to a question about how he could improve against Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Naz Reid, the three-headed front line of the Wolves in Game 2, Jokic joked that he would need to “have a duplicate clone of myself.”

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