Timberwolves give brutal Anthony Edwards NBA Playoffs injury observation vs. Nuggets originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Resilience can often be taken too far to the lengths of pain. Anthony Edwards is currently playing in the NBA Playoffs amid suffering an injury in late March. The Minnesota Timberwolves still lost to the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the first round despite his efforts. While he was able to stay on the court, Julius Randle and Coach Chris Finch saw something different from their star player.
Anthony Edwards is nursing a right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome. Coach Chris Finch and the Timberwolves were able to clear him to play in the NBA Playoffs but he did not look like himself. After their 116-105 loss to the Nuggets, his teammates and head coach observed that there was something off about the Timberwolves star player.
Coach Finch unveiled what he thought of Edwards playing 38 minutes despite the injury, via Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
"It looked like a rusty game back. This is the first year that I’ve ever seen anything different where he’s been frustrated by not feeling 100 percent. He’s always played through little injuries, but I think this one, more than ever, felt it impinged the way he was able to play. But he looks good. He feels good right now. It’s just about getting him in the rhythm of the game, which is hard to do in the playoffs," the Timberwolves head coach said.
Edwards still managed to be productive amid the Timberwolves' loss to the Nuggets. He knocked down 36.8% of his shots from the field to score 22 points. There was also some struggle from beyond the arc because he only saw two of his nine three-pointers find the bottom of the net. Nonetheless, he was still effective in other facets of this NBA Playoffs clash like his nine rebounds, seven assists, and three blocls
Julius Randle also saw Edwards struggle and got real on his situation after the game.
"You could tell his rhythm was a little off. I think these reps and getting some reps in tomorrow, I think he’ll be even better. He was really good. I know he’s going to be critical of himself, but I thought he looked great out there," Randle declared.
Going down 0-1 in the NBA Playoffs is not at all bad but the Timberwolves need to fix their woes before the Nuggets build up an insurmountable lead.