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Anthony Edwards delivers on Christmas but also shows how far Timberwolves have to go

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Anthony Edwards delivers on Christmas but also shows how far Timberwolves have to go

Anthony Edwards rocked the ball from left hand to right, slowly back and forth while P.J. Washington stared him down from a few feet away and a Christmas Day audience around the world tuned in to see one of the NBA’s young stars shine.

He leaned to his right as Washington shadowed him, then slipped the ball from his right hand between his legs to his left and turned on the jets. Rudy Gobert had just started to come up to set a screen, but Edwards was already gone, a tricky little sleight of hand from Timberwolves coach Chris Finch to draw Dallas Mavericks rim protector Dereck Lively II away from the paint. With only Kyrie Irving there behind Washington, Edwards exploded to the cup, a rare instance this season of him not seeing the lane completely full of defenders. He finished the play to give the Wolves a four-point lead with 18.6 seconds to play, essentially icing a much-needed road win for a team that had lost three straight.

This was exactly what Edwards envisioned when the schedule was first released, putting him and his Wolves on center stage for the NBA’s biggest day of the regular season. He grew up in the rough and tumble Oakland City section of Atlanta without the money needed for cable television, so one of his earliest NBA memories was tuning in to watch Kevin Durant on ABC on Christmas Day. Now it was Edwards’ turn to thrill kids watching from home, but his own performance was indicative of the messy, muddy path his team has taken to get to this point of the season.

Edwards led the Wolves (15-14) with 26 points in the 105-99 victory in Dallas and was masterful in toggling between cutthroat scorer and precise facilitator for the first 34 minutes of the game. He was also partially responsible for a 28-point third-quarter lead dwindling to two points down the stretch as the long-struggling offense reverted to the isolation stagnancy that has plagued it so often this season. For Edwards, this is all part of what has been an achingly slow transition from the Karl-Anthony Towns era to the new iteration.

“Sometimes it look good, sometimes it look bad and we’re still trying to figure it out,” Edwards said. “I think patience is what’s going to take us over the top. Once we figure it out, we’ll be all right.”

This was a historic moment for Edwards and for the Timberwolves. The long-ignored franchise was playing on the league’s signature day for just the third time in 36 seasons. Coming off a Western Conference finals run, and with one of the most marketable young players in the league, the Wolves were poised to bask in the glow for which they have yearned.

This was supposed to be a stamping of legitimacy, an anointing of a new era of Timberwolves basketball. They had been passed over so many times before, but now they were must-see TV. Now they had Edwards, a charismatic American star pegged to be one of the next faces of the league when LeBron and Steph finally step aside. He looked the part in a stirring playoff run last season, soaring through the air in big moments and captivating his audience in the interview room after the games.

The NBA couldn’t get enough of him. He was featured on “Good Morning America.” He has the hottest-selling basketball shoe in the game and prime-time endorsements. This summer, a gold medal was draped around his neck. Year No. 5 was supposed to be the launching pad to another level of stardom.

About a third of the way through the season, Edwards has yet to hit the springboard. He is averaging 25.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting a career-high 41.6 percent from 3-point range on high volume. But his assists have dropped from 5.1 per game last season to 4.0 this year, and only 15.5 percent of his shots have come at the rim after taking 28.5 percent of his shots from there last season.

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With Julius Randle in place of Towns at power forward and with Mike Conley and Jaden McDaniels both inconsistent from the perimeter, opposing defenses have been able to pack the paint and take away the rim from Edwards’ game. The lack of shooting around him in the starting lineup, and Randle’s naturally isolationist tendencies, has ground the Wolves offense to a halt. Over the last 15 games, the Wolves are 26th in the NBA in offensive efficiency, a paltry 106.4 points per 100 possessions. They have not scored 110 points in a game a month, and even that was 111 points in an overtime game.

The fit with Randle has been a work in progress and Donte DiVincenzo has shot the ball poorly, a surprising development after the marksmanship he displayed in New York last season. The search for cohesion has bogged everything down, something Randle acknowledged after a strong performance against the Mavericks — 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

“You’re somewhere for five years, playing a certain way, and I come here and it’s a little bit different,” Randle said. “I love my role here. I love playing with my teammates, but finding what helps the team and what the team needs the most on a night-to-night basis has been the harder part. But everybody has been great with me, coaches included, helping me adjust and figuring things out.”

While those two former Knicks have struggled to find their groove, it has made things harder on Edwards. In turn, Edwards has occasionally made things harder on himself. Finch has been trying to call more set plays to get things moving, and the motion was so much improved against the Mavericks defense as the Wolves built their lead.

Edwards was a critical driver of the flow early, picking up four assists in the first quarter to get the ball moving and the shots falling. The amount of attention he has seen from defenses this season with Towns in New York has forced him to make quick, smart decisions early in the possession. It has flustered him at times this season because he so badly wants to unleash his shot-making array on his opponent.

The patience required to excel has come in fits and starts. On Wednesday, he probed with precision to loosen the defense up, hitting Gobert for a dunk, Randle for a corner 3 and McDaniels for a baseline jumper all in the first five minutes of the game.

The unselfishness put the Mavericks on their heels and trickled down to the rest of his teammates. When the starters start moving the ball, it’s much easier for the second unit to come in and follow suit. Minnesota had 16 assists on 20 made baskets in the first half, building a 17-point lead going into the break.

When the ball moves, things open up for Edwards to get his own shot. Mavericks star Luka Dončić had to leave the game early with a calf strain, but the Wolves were dominating the minutes when he was in the game before he left, exhibiting the kind of sustained offensive execution that has been so difficult for them to produce this season.

When Edwards scored on a drive to the basket with 2:12 to play in the third quarter, the Wolves led 88-60 and appeared ready to cruise to a win over a red-hot team. But that’s when Edwards started to stray from what worked so well. He took three ill-advised jumpers down the stretch that came off virtually no action in the half court. He missed all three of them, allowing the Mavericks to cut the lead to 22 points heading into the fourth.

Perhaps sensing the Wolves relax, Kyrie Irving pounced. He attacked quickly and relentlessly, hitting 3s, floaters and pull-ups to breathe some life into the Mavericks. As Dallas mounted the charge, the Wolves offense turned into the kind of no-pass, forced-shot mix that has derailed them so often this season. Edwards went 1-for-5 with a turnover during the collapse, reminiscent of some of the other ice-cold shooting stretches he has had in games of late.

“I had some turnovers tonight that I wish I could go back and get it back, just thinking of making the right play is the right thing to do,” Edwards said. “I feel like I’ll get better.”

Both Edwards and Randle were able to come up with some tough shots down the stretch to hold off the Mavericks charge.

Shots like those are far from ideal, but Randle and Edwards have shown an ability make those highly contested, off-balance type of plays throughout their careers. It is not a recipe for repeatably good offense, but in a pinch it does help to have that arrow in the quiver.

“Me and Julius, we gotta put the ball in the basket and I think we did that,” Edwards said. “We weather the storm and made the shots when we need to.”

The Wolves have nothing to apologize for in that victory. They beat a team that had won 10 of its last 12 games and was 6-3 this season in games without Dončić. For a team as desperate for a win as the Wolves were, you take that and march forward knowing that there were long stretches of the game that looked like great basketball.

In particular, Randle seemed to find the right role for him to be effective. He was aggressive in grabbing the ball off the defensive glass and pushing in transition, getting the Wolves easier shots than when they have to slow it down and grind in the halfcourt. It helped to get Gobert more involved offensively to the tune of 14 points on seven shots.

When the big man gets touches on offense, the Wolves defense benefits. Gobert had 10 rebounds and two blocks, and the Wolves held their opponent under 100 points for the ninth time this season, tied for second-most in the league.

Perhaps most importantly, there were real glimpses of the dynamic Edwards that has been stifled for much of the season. That is what the Wolves need most. He is their one superpower, the player who can bend a game to his will when he has it rolling. It is not a burden because he wants it.

“I feel like you’ll just put the ball in my hands,” he said, “live and die with what happens.”

The Wolves also have to do more to give him opportunities to do damage. Teammates have to make shots. Gobert and Randle have to figure out spacing. Finch has to pull the strings with play calls to get Edwards into advantageous situations. And Edwards has to make the right decisions when he has the ball. He is only 23 years old, but the Wolves need him to play with a maturity beyond his years.

It hasn’t always been there this season. But he was playing on Christmas Day for a reason. The league sees a bankable star who can one day take the baton from LeBron and Steph. The Wolves see a player who has raised their profile more than any since Kevin Garnett.

If they are to dig themselves out of the hole they have been in, get these pieces to fit together in a way they haven’t this season and mount a charge back into the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, Anthony Edwards has to be the one to get them there.

(Photo: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)

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