Rich Weighs In on Anthony Edwards’ Heroics in Timberwolves’ Game 1 Upset of Spurs

Anthony Edwards put the Wolves up one in the West semis, and Rich could not stop talking about how the man does it.

Edwards came back faster than anyone expected, came off the bench in Game 1, played 25 minutes, and finished with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting. He was not the box-score lead. Julius Randle went 21 and 10 in 41 minutes. Jaden McDaniels added 16. Naz Reid led the team in plus-minus at plus-15. But Edwards being in uniform, Rich said, changed the math from the moment the ball tipped.

Edwards explained it himself afterward.

"I know for a fact, just me being out there, it calms everybody down," he said. "Not saying like there's any pressure on any of my teammates, but it takes pressure off of everybody just knowing that I'm out there. I'm available to play."

The other half of the segment was about Victor Wembanyama, who took the loss personally and said so. The Frenchman blocked twelve shots for a triple-double on the defensive end, the kind of game that joins him with Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrew Bynum in playoff history. He also went 0-of-8 from three. He did not break double digits in points until late in the fourth quarter.

His own read, after the game, was that he poured everything into the defense.

"Obviously, I used a lot of it once I got on the court," Wembanyama said. "On the other side, I used too much offensively, I used too much energy in things that didn't really help our team. So that's on me."

He added a line that made Rich call for a new drop.

"If the offensive leaders of our team had been there, it would have been different."

Rich, charitably, paraphrased it.

"Basically if everything was different, it would have been different."

The closer was Edwards talking about playing on the road with the entire arena chanting against the Wolves. He said it was the part he loved most.

"Everybody in the arena is against us," Edwards said. "I think that's the best thing about it. You start on the road, everybody got on pink, blue, and whatever the color shirts they is, chanting Go Spurs Go and doing all that. And, you know, I'm with Minnesota. Like, I got Minnesota's back at all times. So I'm out there with my brothers and we going to war."

Final was 104-102. The series, as Edwards put it, has started.