The absence of Karl-Anthony Towns may not only make Wolves unhappy. Anthony Edwards is one of those who could benefit from this injury to gain strength, while he did not hide his frustration to evolve with the duo “KAT” – Rudy Gobert on the ground.
Last night, against Memphis, he was able to attack as he saw fit. Not very skilful from afar (2/6), the back cut the Grizzlies racket. We have seen him more than once finish with his left hand in front of Steven Adams, after powerful “euro-steps”. Movements that require a minimum of space in the painting…
” I only took what they (the Grizzlies) were giving me. If they were in the spaces, I would make a pass. If they weren’t, I was going to shoot. So all they gave me », summarizes “Ant”, which indeed varied well between the frank attacks and the good balls emerged in periphery. Or inside, like his “alley-oop” sent against Rudy Gobert to give Wolves three possessions in advance with two minutes remaining.
A voice that carries
In what felt like a ” playoff game “, in memory of the first round lost by his team last April against the same opponents, Anthony Edwards also gave a lot in defense.
This materialized in his 5 interceptions and 3 blocks, season records in both cases, which added to his 29 points (10/18 shooting), 5 assists and 3 rebounds in 40 minutes.
In addition to the numbers, Chris Finch is already saying his attacking leader’s voice carries more in the locker room, a sign the 21-year-old is ready to take on more of his share in Karl-Anthony Towns’ absence.
” Guys like Austin (rivers), Taurean (Prince), slo mo (Kyle Anderson) help me know when to say things, when not to say them and how to say the right things “, says Anthony Edwards, described by Jaylen Nowell as a “ great teammate “.
The n°1 of the Draft 2020 salutes, for example, the performance of rookie Wendell Moore Jr. (7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists), for the first time in the five of Wolves, when he had hardly played so far. ” Big impact tonight, all the credit goes to him. He got some big counters that they probably didn’t give him. They thought it was for me, but it was him. It was huge. Not as much as Anthony Edwards.
| Anthony Edwards | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2020-21 | MIN | 72 | 32 | 41.7 | 32.9 | 77.6 | 0.8 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 19.3 |
| 2021-22 | MIN | 72 | 34 | 44.1 | 35.7 | 78.6 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 21.3 |
| 2022-23 | MIN | 21 | 36 | 45.7 | 34.6 | 75.0 | 0.6 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 3.8 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 0.3 | 22.6 |
| Total | 165 | 34 | 43.3 | 34.4 | 77.6 | 0.8 | 4.1 | 4.9 | 3.4 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 20.6 | |
