In the aftermath of an impressive first-round performance against the Los Angeles Lakers, Anthony Edwards is all smiles as he heads into the Western Conference Semifinals. However, before leaving Los Angeles for the final time this season, Edwards made sure to relish the moment with very choice words toward the competition.
“We beat the best player in the world, the best player ever,” said Edwards in the post-game press conference. “This makes it even better that it was the ‘Wolves in 5’ when they said ‘the Lakers in 5.’”
It was solid and well-balanced team play that got the Timberwolves to the Semifinals, but Edwards was surely leading the way for them with averages of 26.8 points, 8.4 boards, 6.2 assists, 4.0 threes, 1.2 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game on 42.0% shooting. He’s been excellent throughout the playoffs, and now he’s taking a minute to celebrate after beating one of his basketball idols.
It’s no secret that the young star has a great admiration for LeBron James, who is widely considered the greatest player of all time by fans and experts. As a 4x champion, 21x All-Star, and 4x MVP, James is more accomplished than any active player, and he was fighting hard to advance into the second round this year.
Tonight, Edwards took pride in humbling the self-proclaimed GOAT and crushing the Lakers’ ambitions with an elite game to close out the series. Instead of ‘Lakers win in 5’ as many predicted, they lost the series in five despite fully expecting to make a run for the title.
As the third seed in the West, with both LeBron James and Luka Doncic, the Lakers were heavily favored to win this series against a Timberwolves team that had shown inconsistency all season long. After trading Karl-Anthony Towns in February, the Timberwolves looked like a different team for a while, and many critics expressed doubt that they could replicate their run to the Western Finals last year.
The series against the Lakers was proof that those critics were wrong. Even without Towns, the Timberwolves were an elite offensive team that used their strength and size to impose their will on the court. They also shut down the Lakers’ role players, who struggled to consistently score throughout the series.
Meanwhile, with such a limited supporting cast, the Lakers had no hope of keeping up, and they had to rely on superstar performances from Luka Doncic just to stay within reach. Tonight, not even Luka could stop the bleeding, and Lakers fans had no choice but to watch and wait as the season ended before their eyes.
As just the second team to make the Semifinals in the West, the Timberwolves are still waiting to find out who their next opponent is, but whether it’s the Rockets or Warriors, it’s sure to give them a massive challenge.
No matter what happens, Edwards is going to give everything that he has to get the Timberwolves farther than they’ve ever gone before, and he’s going to relish it every time that he picks up a win against the NBA’s elite.
