The Minnesota Timberwolves took down the Miami Heat 125-115 at Kaseya Center on Saturday to improve to 22-13 on the season. The Timberwolves had lost three of their last four coming into this one, and Anthony Edwards admitted postgame that their struggles are down to them not following the game plan.
“[Chris Hines] had a great game plan,” Edwards said. “Most of the time we just don’t listen to the game plan, but when we listen to it and execute it, we’d be pretty good.”
When asked why that was the case, Edwards stated the players are just too stubborn.
“We hard-headed,” Edwards stated. “We want to make the game harder, but we listened tonight, and it worked.”
The Timberwolves led for much of this contest, but the Heat were still hanging in there entering the fourth quarter. The visitors were only up 90-86, but then started the fourth on a 19-4 run and ended up cruising to victory.
Edwards led the way for the Timberwolves as he often does, finishing with 33 points (10-19 FG), three rebounds, five assists, and one steal. Naz Reid came up big with 29 points as well, and 20 of those came in the second half.
All hadn’t seemed well in Minnesota lately, so this was a much-needed win. Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch had even called out Edwards for leaving the bench early during Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks. The 24-year-old was asked about that decision here, and he brushed it off.
“No frustration,” Edwards stated. “Nothing. I just walked off.”
It didn’t seem like something completely insignificant, but we’ll take Edwards’ word here. Putting in a dominant performance against the Heat, who were on a four-game winning streak, would have been the best way to respond to that anyway.
The Timberwolves as a team were terrific during stretches here, most notably at the start of the fourth quarter. Edwards was asked if there was any team in the league they think they can’t beat when they play this well.
“I don’t want to go that far,” Edwards said. “I mean, I feel like we can beat everybody. Yeah. But if we play to a certain level, yeah, I feel like we can beat everyone. But sometimes we play to that level, sometimes we don’t. But to answer your question, yeah, I feel like if we play to this level right here and Naz play how he played, Jaden [McDaniels], Donte [DiVincenzo], Bones [Hyland], I feel like, yeah, we can hang with the best of them.”
The Timberwolves are, of course, one of only three teams to have beaten the mighty Oklahoma City Thunder this season. If they’re at their best, they can take down anybody, but you just feel like not having a proper point guard in that starting lineup will ultimately cost them in the playoffs. Here’s hoping they make a trade before the Feb. 5 deadline.
We’ll see the Timberwolves in action next against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena on Sunday at 6 PM ET.
