Anthony Edwards ‘owns’ tough feedback, rises above it in latest glimpse of greatness

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SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco International airport is 12 miles South of Chase Center, but Anthony Edwards found an open runway in the middle of the Golden State Warriors’ home floor late in the third quarter on Saturday night.

The Minnesota Timberwolves star used his afterburners to get around Jonathan Kuminga near the halfcourt line, jab-stepping left and sending the young Warriors forward floating to his right while Edwards flew by. One defender gone. One to go.

Kevon Looney tried to cancel the flight, timing his leap perfectly with Edwards’ only to see the rising star plant both feet and soar over him for that right-hand hammer dunk. The Warriors big man may as well have been an air-traffic controller. And just like that, with Edwards’ 36 points in the Timberwolves’ 102-97 win and the Warriors still without their premier pilot in Steph Curry because of his hamstring strain, this second-round series was headed back in the most logical direction, in large part, because Edwards’ brilliance was back.

Watch this dunk by Anthony Edwards pic.twitter.com/Qf8oBX5o5Q

— Inside Hoops | The NBA (@InsideHoops) May 11, 2025

Their work wasn’t done when Edwards did that dunking deed — not even close, really. He hit a 3 moments later to cut the Warriors’ lead to four points, then carried the comeback by scoring 13 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter. Wolves big man Julius Randle, who had the first playoff triple-double of his 11-year career (24 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds), was special from the start. Jaden McDaniels had nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. The Wolves lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 in San Francisco looming Monday.

But in this playoff landscape where there’s a new star trying to stake his reputational claim every night, with Edwards’ label as “King Slayer” already in peril if he couldn’t manage to eliminate a Warriors team without No. 30, it was that momentum-changing moment, and everything that followed, that served as a reminder that Edwards has a chance to rise above them all.

“It doesn’t surprise me anymore when I see his spectacular plays, but it just infuses our group with so much energy,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said in his postgame news conference afterward. “And then (after a play like that), he kind of gets going too, and we really need that from him.”

What a difference four days can make.

When Edwards struggled so mightily in Game 1 on Tuesday, scoring just one point in the first half while opening the door for that Warriors win that came after Curry went down in the second quarter, Finch’s postgame message about his 23-year-old wunderkind came with a much different tone. He called him out in the kind of way you don’t often see in today’s NBA, where stars — no matter how young — wield so much power that coaches are often reluctant to be candid when there’s a bad day at the hoops office.

“It starts with Ant,” Finch had proclaimed.

Yet as Finch discussed afterward while inside the visiting coach’s office, this is a story that needs to be updated. If the basketball world is going to react so strongly to what he said after the series opener, when high-profile voices like TNT’s Charles Barkley lauded him for the message he had sent and so many others spotlighted his media session, then the discussion about the way Edwards has responded should be just as spirited.

His Game 2 outing was one thing, as he had solid numbers (20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals) in Minnesota’s blowout win (117-93) on Thursday in Minnesota. But this — a road game on the line late, with the Timberwolves in desperate need of their franchise centerpiece to come through — was as revealing and impressive a rebuttal as Finch could have hoped for.

“He’s fiercely competitive,” Finch told The Athletic. “He responds to challenges, whether they’re on the floor from an opponent (or elsewhere). He knows when he needs to play better for us, or do things. It’s all part of his growth.

“He’s been that way since the beginning (drafted first overall out of Georgia in 2020). I think he understands that, as a leader, it’s part of his, quote-unquote, burden to be coached in a way where everybody else can see (that) if Ant’s gonna be coached that way, or we’re gonna hold him accountable, then (others can as well).”

This is not a new form of hoops sacrifice, of course. It’s the same thing that Gregg Popovich did for all those years with Tim Duncan in San Antonio, where the legendary Spurs coach always credited his big man’s willingness to be coached hard as the key to their 20-year run. Ditto for Curry and Golden State coach Steve Kerr, one of the many Popovich proteges who has a long track record of brutal honesty with his point guard both on the Warriors and the Team USA national squad.

Edwards has seen this with Curry and so many other stars first hand, of course, because he was a pivotal part of that American team which won gold at the Paris Olympics last summer. Long before then, back when Edwards worked out for the Warriors heading into the 2020 draft, Kerr famously criticized his on-court habits in such an impactful way that it elevated his work ethic.

“If we had the first pick, we wouldn’t take you”

Steve Kerr to Anthony Edwards in the 2020 draft process 😳

Ant gets a whole series to prove him wrong, starting tonight 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KK0l7lo4vr

— Underdog (@Underdog) May 6, 2025

The examples of hard coaching being an X-factor to greatness are many, and the theme is always the same: The player in question is wise enough to see the big-picture benefit of welcoming the hard truths. And Edwards, as Finch sees it, has long since understood that this is the way.

“I don’t want (people) to think that every film session is an ‘MF’-type of thing,” Finch continued. “It’s not that. That’s not how we do it. It’s not old-school, like we’re screaming at guys all the time. But we aren’t afraid to put our best guys up on the film more often than others, because they play all the minutes, (and) they take all the shots. They’re involved in all the actions, so they should have more accountability that goes with that.”

There’s a butterfly effect of that approach too, though, one that simply can’t exist if the man in the middle won’t allow it.

“Now what I see, which I really love, is that he will be there for the younger players when they’re getting their share (of hard coaching), like the rookies,” Finch said. “And they get nothing compared to what Ant’s gotten, even (when he was) a rookie player. So now, Ant’s being the older brother there, which is cool.

“Julius, KAT (former Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns), we feel like all of our guys have accepted it and it sets the tone. Obviously, as guys mature and get older, those types of messages need to be nuanced, and you kind of pick and choose a little bit more. But we’re lucky to have a guy like Ant. He takes it. He owns it. He moves on. And he’s always the same. He’s always got the same personality.”

Edwards’ flair was on full display after Game 3, when he rocked the sideways Atlanta Braves hat and smiled his way through so many of the questions while sitting alongside Randle and veteran point guard Mike Conley. But when he was asked about his second-half outburst, how he went from scoring just eight points in the first half on 3-of-12 shooting to his fantastic finish, it spoke volumes that he was quick to credit the coach who he’s worked with since midway through his rookie season.

As Edwards detailed, the Warriors’ traps made it pointless to keep using ball screens to get Edwards involved. He was being neutralized in those settings, forced to pass into unproductive spaces because the actions were so high on the floor. So they leaned into the two-man game with Edwards and Randle instead, with Edwards finally finding space to fire away down the stretch (he hit 3 of 5 3s in the fourth quarter).

“Finchy put me in great positions,” he said with a grin.

And Edwards, whether high above the rim or below, did the rest.

(Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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