MINNEAPOLIS — Anthony Edwards spent all last week hearing about how great he was, about how he was the giant slayer. He had just added LeBron James and Luka Doncic to his list of stars vanquished in the playoffs, and now he was coming for Steph, Draymond and Jimmy.
Then he delivered his worst performance of his playoff career in the first half of Game 1. He was 0 for 10 from the field and had just one point as the Wolves fell behind big. At least four of those missed shots were at the rim, a continuing issue for Edwards this season. His first point did not come until there was 1:04 left in the first half. His first field goal didn’t come until over four minutes into the third quarter.
He finished with 23 points on 9-for-22 shooting, but did have 14 rebounds.
He picked it up in the fourth quarter, helping the Wolves pull within nine, but it was too little too late. In a critical defensive error late in the game, Edwards did not stay glued to Buddy Hield, giving up a 3 with 2:42 to go that pushed Golden State’s lead to 12 points and iced the game. If the Wolves had even a B- game from Ant, they probably could have pulled this one out.
The Warriors’ zone seemed to have him out of sorts for most of the game, much like Game 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers. Edwards recovered in that series to help dispatch the Lakers in five games. But he has some studying to do after this one. It just wasn’t good enough.