The Minnesota Timberwolves are underdogs in their upcoming first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers, but Anthony Edwards gives them a chance to win. The three-time All-Star finished fourth in the NBA with 27.6 points per game in the regular season and is a lock for All-NBA honors.
Minnesota has pulled off an upset before, as it defeated Nikola Jokic and the defending-champion Denver Nuggets in the second round last season. The team then traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, but the offense is still dangerous nonetheless. It ranked tied for 13th in the league with 114.3 points per game this year.
Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker opened up about what Edwards told the squad recently, via Dane Moore.
"He's kinda humbly taken that step back to say, 'listen, this might not be the Ant series because I'm gonna need you guys because of how they're gonna play me,'" he said. "Making sure everyone is right there with him. Like kinda, all of us as one, getting to that goal, that finish line together."
Given his competitive nature, Edwards deciding to take a step back ahead of this series is unexpected, but also shows the trust he has in his teammates.
Randle and center Naz Reid were Minnesota's second and third-leading scorers with 18.7 points and 14.2 points per game, respectively. Meanwhile, Alexander-Walker had 9.4 off the bench.
Third-seeded Los Angeles has home-court advantage, so it'll host Games 1 and 2 on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively. After that, Minnesota will host Games 3 and 4 before the Lakers host Game 5, if necessary.
Both teams are almost fully healthy, as their injury reports are clean other than Los Angeles forwards Rui Hachimura (knee) and Maxi Kleber (foot), who are game-time decisions for Saturday.
