Anthony Edwards hit one of those shots that even stunned Golden State Warriors fans, who have seen countless heroic shots from Steph Curry.
It was a 30-foot bomb to close the first half. Gary Payton II was draped all over Edwards. Draymond Green came over to help. It didn’t matter. Ant didn’t hit his Superman celebration. Instead, he was flexing at the Minnesota Timberwolves’ bench before shifting his sights to Payton, who was trying his best to ignore Ant’s celebration.
“You can’t f— with me,” Edwards said. “Better get his ass out of here.”
The Timberwolves were only trailing by two points, but the Warriors had momentum. They closed the first half on a 19-9 run, tossing mud on Minnesota’s offense with their zone defense. Edwards’ three, which gave him 14 points, bailed the Wolves out. However, he shot 5 of 12 from the floor and was a -4 in 21 minutes.
In Game 3, Jonathan Kuminga‘s dunk over Edwards woke Ant up, and he led the Wolves to a 102-97 win. Edwards needed his bomb before halftime to do the same. He had to ensure that Curry couldn’t attempt a similar shot for the rest of the series by sending the Warriors home before Steph could return.
“It was huge,” Chris Finch said after Minnesota’s 117-110 Game 4 win regarding the three. “It felt like one of those games where we were going to struggle to find a rhythm. I thought we might have been down ten at halftime with the way we had played.
“Fortunately, I thought his shot made it pretty much an even game. If we came out playing with the purpose we needed to, I felt that we were going to be okay.”
Finch told the team at halftime that they were playing like losers, like they had already won the series. Since a hamstring strain sidelined Curry in Game 1, with his return not likely slated until Game 6, Vegas thinks Minnesota advancing is only a matter of time.
However, the Warriors were desperate after Edwards and Julius Randle combined for 60 points in Game 3 to give Minnesota a 2-1 series lead. They knew Game 4 was a must-win to keep Curry’s return alive. Therefore, after Golden State outscored the Wolves by ten to close the first half, Finch’s comments at halftime on Monday resonated with Edwards.
“At halftime, coach came in and just said we are playing like we already won the series, pretty much,” Edwards said. “I don’t really like that. I didn’t like how we were playing overall, and I didn’t like how I was playing individually, so I knew I had to pick it up.”
Despite a lockdown Warriors zone defense that flustered the Wolves, Minnesota’s strong third quarter started on the defensive end. The Timberwolves allowed Golden State to hang 60 points on the board in the first half by getting to the line for 20 free throw attempts. Jonathan Kuminga had 16 points on 8 of 8 from the foul stripe, and the Warriors crashed the glass for nine offensive rebounds.
“I thought we were just kind of doing 85% of the job in the first half,” Finch said. “We knew that they were going to be all over the glass, and they were. We just didn’t go pursue enough. There was no adjustment. It was literally, we just had to lock in and finish plays off.”
Edwards admitted after the game that his three-pointer to close the first half locked him in. Michael Jordan said it is a sign of a “good man” when he can talk trash when the score is tied or his team is trailing. The Wolves were down two at halftime, but by how Ant talked to the Warriors bench after his buzzer-beater, you would have thought the Wolves were up ten.
Edwards could have been poking a bear, and his smack talk could have provoked somebody on the Warriors. However, there was no one to provoke. Curry was in street clothes.
Edwards was the bear.
“At that moment, I’m a fan like y’all, to be honest,” said Jaden McDaniels. “I’m watching him kill. It’s exciting. He puts in the work every day, so it’s not a surprise to me.”
Ant dropped 16 points in the third quarter, via a barrage of captivating shot-making that featured Edwards going 6 of 8 from the floor and 3 of 5 from deep. He nearly outscored the Warriors himself, and probably would have if he didn’t have to sit with 2:43 left in the frame after picking up his fourth foul. Golden State mustered 17 third-quarter points on 7 of 19 shooting.
Foul trouble was the only thing that could keep the Warriors in the game. They had nothing to stop him on defense and lacked the response blows from their star Jimmy Butler, who finished the game with 14 points on nine shot attempts.
After sitting down with his four fouls, the Wolves still ripped off ten points to close the final three minutes. Julius Randle accounted for six of them as the passer or scorer. Randle finished the game with 31 points on 11 of 21 shooting. He scored 19 in the first half, keeping Minnesota within striking distance for Ant to have the opportunity to take over.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Edwards said on SportsCenter regarding Randle. “He was incredible, man. He was making shots that I’m not used to seeing people make on a daily basis.”
Ant may have been surprised by some of Randle’s shot-making in Game 4, but Chase Center surely wasn’t seeing anything new when Edwards took over. It’s a drama series they’ve seen plenty of episodes of – elite shot-making down the stretch of a crucial playoff game.
Usually, Curry is landing the haymakers. On Monday, it was Edwards, Steph’s Olympic teammate.
“It’s hard not to cheer when you see Ant do stuff like that,” said McDaniels regarding the crowd. “They try to trash-talk him, but they are still fans. They still be cheering for him sometimes.”
There was probably more pain than cheers from the fans wearing gold shirts. Edwards’ third-quarter takeover all but cemented Golden State’s fate, even though the Warriors’ third-stringers made the game unnecessarily close down the stretch.
The Timberwolves return home for Game 5 on Wednesday with a 3-1 series lead. Curry will travel to Minneapolis, and the Warriors will reevaluate him before the game. There is a slim chance he plays, but his season is likely over. After ripping off two wins in San Francisco, the Wolves are primed to end this series on Wednesday.
Edwards’ third-quarter takeover has Minnesota’s Western Conference Finals berth coming into focus. His shot at the end of the first half buried the chances of Curry being able to hit a similar shot the rest of this season.
