NBA
Anthony Edwards on Wolves first win vs. Mavs: ‘I’ve never been swept so I took it personal’
Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.
All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated29 May 2024
This past Tuesday, Minnesota turned the script on Dallas and earned their first victory of this Western Conference Finals clash. It seems that Karl-Anthony Towns finally found his rhythm and combined for 54-points with co-star Anthony Edwards to finally defeat their rivals.
As the team now heads back to the Land of 10,000 lakes for Game 5, they hope to make NBA history and become the first franchise to comeback from a 3-0 series. Ant revealed postmatch that we wasn’t willing to end the season on a sweep.
“I’ve never been clean-swept in my career… even though I’ve only been to the playoffs three times, I’ve never been swept. So, I took it personal. I definitely didn’t wanna get swept. Not on their home court, hearing the fans talk trash – all day,” said Edwards. “So, I think we came out and competed at a high-level today.”
Anthony Edwards didn’t want to be swept and he made sure the Timberwolves had the same mentality 🔥
“If they win this game it’s 4-0, they not gonna feel sorry for us bruh.”#NBAPlayoffs #WolvesBack #OneForDallas
— CourtSideHeat (@courtsideheat) May 29, 2024
The young foward, who posted 29 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists in the Timberwolves’ 105-100 triumph, gave praise to his teammate Towns after three-consecutive games of shooting poorly. “He was super confident,” the 22-year-old said. “He wasn’t worried about any shots previous to the shots that he hit tonight. He played exceptionally well.”
Karl-Anthony scored 20 of his 25 points during the second half of the contest, and kept his club alive in their first trip to the Conference Finals in two decades. “Being aggressive,” he said, after dropping 9 of 13 from the field, including 4 of 5 from the deep. “Ain’t no time to have any doubts in your mind, especially at this time, it’s Game 4, down 3-0. Ain’t no time to have any doubts.”
Despite rival Luka Doncic posting his sixth triple-double of the current playoffs, his shooting wasn’t as effective as the first three games of the series. Both him and co-star Kyrie Irving were just 13 of 39 from the field.
“That game’s on me. Just didn’t give enough energy,” said the Slovenian after hitting only 7 of 21 from the field. “They won one game. We’ve just got to focus on the next one.”
Wolves coach Chris Finch inspired his time with his intensity, but was very close to earning a second technical foul during Game 3
Despite coach Chris Finch almost earning an ejection after flirting with a second technical foul, his players admitted that his intensity fuelled them throughout the contest.
Mike Conley, who scored 14 points in Game 3, showed some love for the Minnesota tactician. “To have him be on the sideline but behind the bench for the majority of these playoffs, you forget the impact he can have,” the veteran shared. “When your coach is up getting technicals and yelling and when you see him hobbling around to do it, it’s impressive. It lit a fire on all of us.”
The entire roster gave it their all and were on the verge of fouling out, as Towns did in the final two minutes. Edwards and Rudy Gobert ended the match with five fouls each.
“We weathered a lot of foul trouble out there, which was frustrating to say the least,” Finch expressed after the game. “Credit to our guys. They found a way to win the game. It was a lot like Games 1 and 2, and we were able to get it done tonight.”
