Anthony Edwards incites Jamal Murray to keep trash talking ahead of Game 5: ‘We love that’

In one of the most exciting clashes of this season’s playoffs, Minnesota and Denver are currently tied 2-2 in this best-of-seven Western Conference series and are ready for Game 5 this Tuesday evening. The matchup has been tense so far, but Anthony Edwards recently confessed that he loves the trash talk that’s going on between them. 

With final buzzer approaching the Wolves’ 115-107 Game 4 defeat to the Nuggets, Jamal Murray exchanged some heated words with the rising star, but Ant reacted with a defiant smile. After the game, the press asked about this curious interaction.

“I just told his ass we love that,” said Edwards after hitting a game-high 44 points despite his team’s loss. “‘Keep talking [like] that. That’s what we like.’ Well, I loved it. He didn’t say nothing back. But I’m pretty sure he heard me. They heard me. You live for that.”

What do you think Anthony Edwards and Jamal Murray were talking about? 🤔pic.twitter.com/5LRJcP6FXT

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 13, 2024

Even though the Colorado guard didn’t comment back on this exchange, he did talk about the challenges of containing the 22-year-old. Edwards is currently averaging 33.3 points on 60.4% shooting through the first four contests of this semifinal series.

“He’s downhill, he’s tough to guard, he’s explosive,” Jamal confessed. “He’s always in attack mode, you know what I’m saying? So, I think we can just do a better job of just giving him some attention.”

Ant had other things to worry about, other than confront the Denver star. For example, Anthony felt the need to comfort his teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, who has having a bad night after dropping only 1 of his 10 shots during his first half performance. The big man eventually scored 13 in total, but was nothing compared to Nikola Jokic’s 35.

“He’s a superstar,” Edwards said of his teammate. “He gets paid to put the ball in the rim. I always tell him, ‘Don’t you ever stop shooting the ball because you missed five or six. I don’t give a damn. In order for us to win, we need you to score.’ I’m just happy he was aggressive the entire night. That’s a win for us tonight. Him being aggressive throughout after having an off night, I guess.”

Big man Towns couldn’t help but feel responsible for his team’s loss in Game 4 of this playoff series

Despite co-star Edwards delivering words of encouragement for him, Karl-Anthony couldn’t hide his disappointment after his poor offensive game this weekend. He even decided to take responsibility for his team’s defeat in Game 4.

“Things weren’t falling today,” the center said. “I take responsibility for that. I know I put the work in, so I feel good about the work I put in. It’s shown this playoffs, obviously. It’s unfortunate that on Mother’s Day I have a shooting performance like that. But it’s the way the game goes. It’s not a fun game sometimes.”

Towns is convinced that his squad must remain united during the series, as they did during the entire regular season which lead them to 56 wins and the third seed in the West.

“We just got to stay connected in this locker room,” Towns said. “Even through good, bad, we always are together, and we always lean into the brotherhood that we have built here. … But it’s a test now. And we got to be willing to show the work that we’ve put into our friendships and our relationships in this team.”