Anthony Edwards was feeling himself during the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ dominant Game 1 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. He was so excited that he even got into it with some Lakers fans.
“My (expletive) is bigger than yours,” cameras caught Edwards telling the Los Angeles crowd.
Well, the NBA is not a fan of that language. In fact, it’s going to cost Edwards a pretty penny. The league announced on Tuesday that the guard has been fined $50,000 for the comments he made.
Edwards has a $244 million contract with the Timberwolves, so the $50,000 loss shouldn’t hurt too much. That said, he’ll likely be on his best behavior in Game 2. Those $50,000 fines can quickly add up.
Physicality Was Key to Game 1
While the Timberwolves aren’t a bad team, not many expected them to dominate the Lakers in Game 1 the way they did. A big reason for that was the physicality that Minnesota played with.
The Lakers have players who can be physical, but they are more of a finesse team with Luka Doncic running the offense. According to Edwards, it was very important for the Timberwolves to be the more physical team.
“Just tried to be as physical as possible,” Edwards said, via ESPN. “The main thing for us was, we didn’t want them to get into the bonus early. Because … you see a couple free throws go in, Luka gets into a rhythm, Bron gets into a rhythm.”
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt knows that the Lakers need to be more aggressive in Game 2 if they hope to even the series.
“I think we got to be the aggressor,” Vanderbilt said of Game 2. “I feel like they hit us first. And they were the more physical team for the majority of the game. … It’s the playoffs, man. We got to play hard. I think they were beating us to all the 50-50 balls and offensive rebounds, the loose balls. Just everything, they were winning that battle. And I think in the playoffs, the tougher team that wins that battle wins the game.”
Edwards Growing as a Leader
Edwards may still be getting fined for immature antics on the court, but his teammates are impressed with how much he’s grown as a leader, especially considering he’s only 23.
“How he’s been leading, as young as he is, it’s kind of crazy to me,” Wolves forward Naz Reid told The Athletic. “You would think he’s 30. Like, seriously. Just how vocal he is, he wants to win. You can tell. He’s desperate. And he wants his teammates to do well as well.”
Veteran center Rudy Gobert has also been impressed with Edwards.
“Ant knows how huge a part he is on our team and how he’s going to set the tone for all of us,” Gobert said. “Watching his focus, watching his approach, watching his growth over the years, it’s been amazing and I’m excited to see how he’s going to be handling that opportunity, that challenge that we are facing right now.”
It’s clear that the Timberwolves are Edwards’ team going forward, and they’ll go as far as he takes them.
