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This isn’t the way things were supposed to end. When the Denver Nuggets bolted to a 20-point lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves halfway through the deciding game of the Western Conference semi-finals, it seemed as if the final chapter of this engrossing, hectic, epic series was written: the defending champions, stunned and humiliated in Games 1, 2 and 6, had risen off the canvas to deliver the decisive blow at the decisive moment. Then something happened. Anthony Edwards happened.
Edwards, the No 1 pick in the 2020 draft, has long been described as the future face of the NBA. At 22, he’s already the undisputed leader of the Timberwolves – an impressive achievement in itself, given he plays with another former No 1 draft pick (Karl-Anthony Towns), an all-time defensive great (Rudy Gobert), and a wily veteran guard (Mike Conley Jr). Boxed out of Game 7’s opening exchanges by a Nuggets defense happy to give the oft-misfiring Gobert open looks, Edwards scored just four points in the first half, and his third quarter began in inauspicious fashion: a shot from beyond the arc clunked off the lip of the rim, then he airballed another attempt. He shook the failures off, reasserted himself in defense, then ran the length of the court for an easy layup.
Related: Timberwolves stage largest Game 7 comeback in NBA history to down champion Nuggets
A couple of uncontested dunks off loose balls won in defense followed, and the manner in which Edwards made them seemed to act as a signal to his teammates. Edwards is a master posterizer, with the full range of tomahawks, windmills, backscratchers, and self-alley-oops – many of which have been on show in these playoffs, in which the sight of the Ant Man puncturing the rim with bulging authority has been a regular wonder. The dunks on Sunday night were different. There were no theatrics, no flourishes, no screams of conquest under the glass. Edwards simply placed the ball through the net, then turned around to race back up the other end of the court to attend to his defensive duties. These were business dunks, and they woke the Timberwolves up. Having been 20 points down…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/world-fantasy-leagues-anthony-edwards-125430794.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2024-05-20 12:54:30
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