Anthony Edwards dazzled as the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Clippers 94-88 at the Intuit Dome on Thursday. Edwards recorded his 28th 30-point game of the season on the night and hit the biggest shot of the game as well.
Edwards made a difficult stepback three-pointer over Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. from the corner to give the Timberwolves a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds remaining. The 24-year-old was understandably hyped after that dagger shot, but then surprisingly started yelling at his head coach, Chris Finch.
“That’s what I f***ing do,” Edwards appeared to tell Finch.
ANTHONY EDWARDS.
IMPROBABLE CLUTCH 3.
MIN LEADS BY 4 WITH 42.9 TO PLAY! pic.twitter.com/Fbck5RfB2t
— NBA (@NBA) February 27, 2026
That was quite interesting. Edwards was asked about that interaction in his courtside interview postgame and explained that it stemmed from Finch telling him to pass the ball earlier.
“The play before, Finchy, when I took the midrange over two, he was like ‘Pass the ball!'” Edwards said, via NBA on Prime. “And I just told him, you don’t want me to pass the ball, you want me to shoot it.”
Edwards had attempted a very difficult fadeaway mid-ranger over Dunn and Brook Lopez a couple of possessions prior. The four-time All-Star missed on that occasion, and you’d imagine that a head coach would tell a player to pass instead of shoot there. Interestingly, though, Finch denied telling Edwards not to shoot in his postgame press conference.
“No, I didn’t tell him not to shoot the mid-range,” Finch said. “So that’s not what was said.”
Finch didn’t have anything more to add about that interaction either. Some might wonder if there is friction here, but Edwards made it clear in his postgame media session that all is well.
“Me and my coach got the best relationship ever,” Edwards stated. “I mean, he be right most of the time. Well, 98% of the time, he be right. He told me to pass the ball tonight, and I should have passed it, but I shot it instead. And it went in. The basketball gods was on my side tonight.”
Had Edwards missed, he would have panned for his shot selection. As mentioned, he had already missed one over two defenders earlier. Ideally, you shouldn’t be taking too many of those, but it turns out that Edwards practices these shots.
“I look forward to the heavily contested on two people,” Edwards said. “I love those type of shots. I work on those shots all the time, man.”
“I just go in the gym with my partners and tell them to guard me two-on-one and take all type of tough shots,” Edwards stated. “And I just imagine it’s the fourth quarter with three minutes left and I got to make these shots.”
All that training has made Edwards one of the best tough shot makers in the NBA today. He is incredibly clutch, too, and there are few players you fear more than him down the stretch in games.
Against the Clippers here, Edwards had 11 points in the fourth quarter. He finished the night with 31 points (12-24 FG), three rebounds, five assists, and one steal.
Edwards’ heroics meant the Timberwolves improved to 37-23 on the season. They’ll be taking on the Denver Nuggets next at Ball Arena on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
