As Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns sat down for their postgame press conference after Game 7 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets, the two had a look at the box score. When going through it, Towns and Edwards looked at the plus-minus for the Timberwolves players.
Anthony Edwards: “Look, we all plus-minus in the positive. Jaden (McDaniels) had the highest, no Mike Conley”
Karl-Anthony Towns: “That’s a lie, that’s why I don’t be trusting that s***. That’s a lie. That n***a (Naz Reid) came in changed the game.”
Anthony Edwards: “Yeah, that’s cap. Gave ’em 11 points, the biggest 11 points of his life.”
(starts at 0:09 mark):
Plus-minus isn’t always a great indicator of how well someone played in a game and that’s certainly the case with Reid in Game 7. He had a plus-minus of -5 but was a big reason why the Timberwolves came away with the win.
Reid had 8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks in that wild fourth quarter. He made some big plays down the stretch to help the Timberwolves keep the Nuggets at bay and win 98-90. The 24-year-old finished the game with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks, which shows he did most of his damage in that final period.
For the series, Reid put up 10.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. He excelled off the bench and showed just why he won Sixth Man of the Year in 2024.
Anthony Edwards Spoke On The Importance Of Naz Reid To The Timberwolves
Later on in the press conference, Edwards was asked about Reid’s play in this series and what he means to the Timberwolves and he spoke glowingly of his teammate. (starts at the 4:30 mark in the above video):
“Me and KAT was just talking about it up here,” Edwards said. “I think the plus-minus stuff is trash… When KAT got his 5th foul, Naz came in and he played great defense on (Nikola Jokic), got a couple of offensive rebounds, hit a big shot, got a big dunk. Maybe got a couple of steals. He played hard man.
“He’s super important to our team,” Edwards continued. “And we tell him all the time, ‘Just stay with it, stay with it.’ And he stayed with it tonight, and it showed, for sure.”
I don’t think the Timberwolves would have won that game without Reid. Towns and Rudy Gobert were both dealing with foul trouble at the end and he did an incredible job of stepping up to the challenge of guarding Jokic while also contributing on offense.
The Timberwolves would be hoping Reid keeps this up in the Western Conference Finals next against the Dallas Mavericks. I certainly won’t be surprised if he ends up playing a very big role in them winning a game or two in that series.
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