There was a weird vibe in Target Center Sunday night as fans settled in for Game 4. Given that the Minnesota Timberwolves were down 3-0 in the series and coming off a loss in Game 3, you got the feeling that fans were done with the season and team in a way. There was a slew of open seats once the 8:40 pm tip-off rolled around. Apathy may be something that the players, coaches, and media don’t like to see. But you can’t blame the fans for believing that the season was all but over.
Still, given that this is the weirdest team ever, Minnesota avoided the sweep as they marched out of Game 4 with a 114-108 overtime win.
I went into Sunday’s game under the impression that the Timberwolves couldn’t beat the Denver Nuggets. The way they built their roster to play alongside Nikola Jokić is incredible. The Wolves put forth one helluva effort in Game 3 and still came up short. However, a pissed-off Anthony Edwards would not let his team go down without a fight.
“I mean, that’s just the truth,” Edwards said after Game 4.
It’s 3-0, you’ve got to win one more game to send us home. I was just telling the truth. I mean, they still got to win one more game to go home, and we got another chance to win another game and come back to Minnesota. I take pride, I didn’t want to say, ‘I got swept.’ I don’t ever want to say I got swept in my career. I definitely took it personally tonight.
The level of maturity he has at 21 is mindboggling to me. In only his tenth career playoff game, Edwards led Minnesota all game long. He never took no for an answer. He finished with a ridiculous 34 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists on 12-of-27 (44%) from the floor.
During the final possession in regulation, Edwards coughed up what could have been a game-winning bucket. Instead, the two teams headed to overtime. While overtime has been somewhat of a death sentence for the Wolves this season, Minnesota was able to hang on to win thanks to the game-winner from the man himself.
Edwards may have been the hero of the game. However, he said that he played “terrible,” deferring credit to teammate Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
“I just want to give all the credit to Nickeil,” Edwards said postgame. “He played very, very well tonight. He was the MVP tonight.”
Jamal Murray was starting to take the game over heading into halftime. But NAW stepped up in the biggest way possible with his defense against Murray. Alexander-Walker held Murray to only 1-of-8 from the floor in the second half. He also had back-to-back clutch triples.
It was a full team effort. And while Anthony Edwards will be making the headlines, the Timberwolves still found a way to gut out a win to prolong their season. Denver will be going for the gentlemen’s sweep on Tuesday. But as we just saw, the Wolves have what it takes to beat the No. 1 seed in the West.
