Monday’s game against the Utah Jazz started poorly. The Minnesota Timberwolves looked like they sorely missed Rudy Gobert guarding the rim, giving up 37 points in the first quarter and committing seven turnovers. But things evened out after the Wolves started taking care of the ball, and they cut what was once a 16-point lead down to only six going into halftime.
Naz Reid had a quick 17 points, four rebounds, and a block in the first half. However, he suffered a head injury and did not return in the second half. With all three of the Wolves star big men injured, the second half looked like an uphill battle. The Jazz have a lot of size in their frontcourt between Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, and Walker Kessler. They needed some stellar play from Anthony Edwards and the rest of their guards if they would come out on top, and that’s exactly what they got.
With 5:37 left in the third quarter, the Wolves were down by one, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker got a poke-away steal from Keyonte George that landed right in Ant’s lap. Edwards, NAW, and Kyle Anderson immediately take off on a 3-on-2 fastbreak. Ant passes the ball ahead to NAW on the right wing to get separation from George, his defender, then quickly goes around him and gets open right around the free-throw line. NAW tosses the ball back to Edwards, who takes two steps and then leaps high enough that his waistline is almost at head level with 6’9” Collins. Edwards’s momentum carries him through Collins, who crumpled underneath the force, and straight to the rim for one of the most incredible dunks I have ever witnessed.
Everyone’s reactions in the arena were almost as surprising as the dunk. The Wolves players on the bench look conflicted between being impressed and scared for Collins’ life. Kyle Anderson doesn’t even celebrate the dunk. Instead, he put his hands on his head in apparent concern as he walked over to see if Collins was okay. Anderson, T.J. Warren, and two Jazz players stand around Collins, holding a hand around his eye/forehead area, where Ant seemed to have hit him with his off-hand during the play. Collins was so shaken up that he had to leave the game. Shams Charania later reported that Collins suffered a head contusion but not a concussion.
Ant also hurt himself on the dunk. Although he dunked the ball with his right hand, he came down holding his left, which made contact with Collins’s face. Ant’s hand was in so much pain that he wasn’t even excited about the gravity-defying dunk he had just made. Monte Morris came over to congratulate Ant on the dunk, giving him a friendly push and smile, and Ant immediately held up his hand as if to say I can’t celebrate. I think I just injured myself.
Edwards walked off into the locker room to get his hand checked out and almost didn’t make it back out in time to shoot his free throw, which would have meant he also had to exit the game. Luckily, Ant had just dislocated his finger and returned to the game.
The camera audio picks up someone on the Wolves bench saying, “Oh my f—ing god,” not in pure excitement, but what sounds like a mixture of shock, awe, and confusion. The bench would typically be pointing at Collins in one unified line. Instead, only two people are cautiously pointing, as if they don’t want to add insult to injury but also can’t help themselves from being amazed. The rest appear to be trying to contain their excitement until they know whether anyone is injured.
All this is to say that it’s rare to see someone make that level of mind-blowing dunk and not have the bench and crowd erupt in a chaotic round of cheers. Still, that didn’t stop Edwards and the Timberwolves from riding the momentum of the dunk to victory. Ant scored again on Minnesota’s next offensive possession, using his speed to get around Utah’s transition defense and hit an easy layup. Then, after one empty possession, the Wolves hit threes on their next two trips down the court, one by Morris and the other by Ant.
The dunk felt like a huge turning point for Minnesota’s offensive energy. They began to play with more pace and decisiveness when finding open players on the perimeter, and the open looks that they got started to fall more regularly. Utah’s Collin Sexton kept the Jazz close by hitting three threes late in the third quarter and scoring 24 points throughout the game. However, the Wolves were able to separate themselves from the Jazz in the fourth quarter and ultimately win by 10. It would have been seven if Jaden McDaniels hadn’t humorously ignored the unwritten sportsmanship rule of not shooting a last-second shot in a game where you’re already about to win, even though Ant had just faked like he was going to do the same thing.
Ant’s dunk also seemed to motivate the team’s defense. The Timberwolves only gave up 21 points in the fourth quarter, the least of any quarter in the game. Additionally, the Wolves got three blocks and three steals in the fourth quarter, a third of their total in both categories throughout the game.
In Chris Finch’s post-game press conference, he commented that he also felt that Ant’s dunk was a turning point in the game, saying, “I thought that was what really kind of flipped the game around for us just from an emotional point of view we needed a really big play.” Finch later added, “He knows when guys are out, and we get down shorthanded that he’s gotta step up, but you know, spectacular play.”
In addition to changing the game’s momentum, the dunk may take the top spot as the most impressive dunk of Edwards’s young career. Although Ant has had a ton of highlight dunks already, the only one I can think of that comes close to the sheer amount of force this dunk had was the dunk over Yuta Watanabe in Toronto.
That dunk is similar to last night’s because Ant jumped higher than I thought was possible and went straight through the defender to slam the ball in both plays. However, as great as that dunk was, Watanabe is not known as a rim protector. However, Collins is a pretty good defender overall, having averaged one block per game or more in almost every year of his career. Ant also said he thought it was the best dunk of his career. He felt it was better than the one in Toronto because he didn’t know whether he could extend and put it in, and also because he slightly threw it in at the end.
The only other dunk that could compete with it was Ant’s in-game pass off the backboard to himself dunk against the Memphis Grizzlies. Although Ant didn’t dunk on anyone in this highlight, he pulled off a self-oop in an NBA game and made it look easy. The skill it takes to get the ball to bounce off the backboard to yourself in the right spot and time your jump just right to catch it on the way up is extremely impressive. It’s the type of dunk you usually only see in a dunk contest or warmups when no defenders are around.
Edwards is a human highlight reel, and it’s likely only a matter of time until he tops himself again with an even more impressive dunk. However, he doesn’t just make highlights; he makes winning plays that shift the game’s momentum. It’s not just the dunks but also the highlight defensive plays that take the life out of an opposing team.
He blocked Aaron Nesmith to save the game this year against the Indiana Pacers. Edwards guarded Jaren Jackson Jr. when no one else on the team could seal a win against the Grizzlies. And last season, he and McDaniels locked down Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving while the game and a playoff appearance were on the line. Ant can step up when the team needs it the most. Above all the other amazing things he does, that puts him on a trajectory to be a top-five player in the league.
