Despite his team being outscored by 30 points in the second half of a lopsided 114-88 Game 1 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder to open the Western Conference finals Tuesday, Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards flashed his signature confidence afterward.
“I feel great,” Edwards said after scoring only five points after halftime, finishing with 18 points on 5-for-13 shooting.
Edwards backed up his bravado with a plan to get back in the series in Game 2 on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): less organizing the Wolves’ offense and more generating it.
“I definitely got to shoot more,” Edwards said. “I only took 13 f—ing shots. … Probably just get off the ball a little more, play without the ball. I think that will be the answer. Because playing on the ball, they’re just going to double and sit in the gaps all day.
“So, got to go watch some film and pick it apart. We’ll figure it out.”
Not only were Edwards’ 13 attempts his fewest in 11 games this postseason, but only one of those was taken inside the paint.
Edwards said that the Thunder’s schemes dictated his approach in Game 1. When asked if his right ankle — which he turned in the first half and caused him to retreat to the locker room to have it evaluated — affected his performance, he replied, “No.”
“I mean, they clogged the paint,” Edwards said. “That’s what they do. They don’t got much size down there, so they bank on us not making shots, I guess. Because every time I go to the rim it’s like four people in the paint.”
Indeed, the Wolves went from scoring 72 points in Game 5 of the conference semifinals in closing out the Golden State Warriors to only 20 on Tuesday in Oklahoma City — the fewest paint points in a playoff game for the franchise since Game 1 of the 2004 conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, according to ESPN Research.
Though Edwards was a willing passer, his teammates were off the mark all night. The Wolves shot 29.4% on 3-pointers (15-for-51), accounting for the most attempts from deep in a playoff game in franchise history.
