Anthony Edwards may not be the best player to come out of Georgia, as the point guard said Walt “Clyde” Frazier told him during pregame warmups.
But he was the best player Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
In what was a hot shooting night for the Timberwolves, the two-time All-Star made 12 of 21 field goals and led the team with 36 points in Minnesota's 116-99 win over the Knicks. He led the team in batting average of .36. 500.
He also had 13 rebounds and seven assists, helping to prevent the Knicks from losing two former players, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade.
“I was happy [with his performance]'' Edwards said after the win. “My best friend was trying to motivate me by texting me before the game and being like, 'They tested us again.' I said something about. I don't do social media, but he sends me little posts. He just texts me, “What do you do?” So I had to show up for him. He usually doesn't send me emails like that. That was my motivation. ”
However, the 2020 No. 1 pick did not start out well. They got into a rhythm after making 1 of 7 shots in the first quarter.
But nothing was more notable than Edwards' incredible dunk that made the game 96-89 with nearly seven minutes left.
He beat Jalen Brunson who was assisting him off a pick, drove into the paint and past Precious Achiuwa for a wild poster dunk. In the three minutes before the basket, the Timberwolves led 11-2, with Edwards scoring or assisting on all 11 of his points.
Edwards was also decisive from deep, making 8 of 13 shots, an improvement this season.
This year, he's shooting more (9.9 threes per game) and shooting more (42.3 percent), compared to 6.7 and 35 percent a year ago.
“He's really working on taking more threes,” coach Chris Finch said before the game. “We've always told him he's really good. He was passing up a lot of open threes to handle the ball in a different rhythm. He shot 3s. It's always been a great weapon, but now he trusts it even more.”
