In hindsight, it’s a bit surprising that Anthony Edwards comfortably postponed to the NBA’s elder politicians at the Olympics.
The bravest players in the NBA were happy to come out from the bench as Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant led Team USA to Gold. Don’t worry about him wiping Durant out of the playoffs. He played just 13 minutes when Team USA overcame Serbia with Nikola Dzokic in the semi-finals. If Edwards had watched more minutes, the game wouldn’t have been that close. After all, he beat Jokic in the playoffs as well.
That Olympic tournament set up what became the story of professional basketball next year. It was supposed to be the last vehicle for legendary American players. They placed Edwards and his generation cohort on top to gracefully snatch the torch. Instead, James partnered with Luka Doncic, Curry got Jimmy Butler, and Kawi Leonard wasn’t even healthy enough to go to Paris, but once again began to look like himself. Suddenly, the old man still had it.
Edwards played what seemed like a frequently lost season after the trade with Karl Anthony Towns in Minnesota, and didn’t get that torch peacefully. So now he’s doing it the hard way.
Julius Randle returned from a month’s absence on March 2nd. The Timberwolves finished the regular season 17-4, climbed from play-in and advanced to their first round match with James and his new running mate, Doncic. Certainly, what is the other head of his mantle?
Edwards is still two games away from knocking out two games, but he is the decisive player in the series featuring two much larger stars.
Minnesota’s Game 1 victory flowed from his improved pass. Though he’s not a point guard level playmaker yet, Edwards is getting better and better at taking what the defense gives him. The Lakers showed help for him throughout Game 1. Edwards responded with nine assists, the catalyst for Minnesota’s Monster 21-42 3-point shooting night.
He was more practical in Game 3 and had another skill he developed recently. When Edwards was drafted, his jump shot was a question mark. Five years later, he led the NBA with a 3-pointer. He tried 10 of them in Game 3 and made 5. The two came in the final five minutes. There, all Minnesota points were scored or supported.
Given the stars on the other side of the game, it felt right. Like Edwards, James was a shaky shooter when his career began. He also improved significantly over time. The final three seasons produced three of his four best shooting seasons in terms of three-point volume. The last two ranked fourth and second on his 3-point percent leaderboard in history. But the big difference is that James was 40 years old and spent most of his 20 years doing this.
Edwards is 23 years old. He added something important for several years in a row. His defense took a leap last year. This is his filming this year. As explained in Game 1, his playmaking seems like a logical next step. The course he showed in this series alone was important. Here is the obvious temptation to cover what will happen to him. A 23-year-old who is moving forward this quickly could turn 28 or 29. But it cheates who he is now.
He’s already wiped out the idols of his childhood. He has already led a 20-point game seven comeback against the best players in the world. On Friday, he took a punch from the greatest player of all time for 43 minutes. That didn’t bother him. He was the best player on the floor in the last five. His suffering in the last postseason, obviously dealing with illness, was almost helpless to see him as if he had done it. Edwards sought Doncic in defense and attacked him mercilessly.
This is not a passing of the torch. The moment he died in Paris. This is a violent seizure of the torch, and Edwards – the Always Showman – is using it to burn the Lakers. He now has James and Doncic on the ropes. Game 3 was something they had to win. I don’t know if Doncic will feel better on Sunday. I don’t know if a 39-hour rest at 40 is enough. James may not be himself on a Sunday afternoon.
Edwards is just getting stronger. He had advantages and did not require a massive trade acquisition to get it. Minnesota traded his best teammates. They didn’t get anything better for him.
There are superstars who make their entire careers without a collection of casualties like James, Doncic, Durant and Jokic. Has James Harden hit another player already? For example, the unparalleled resume construction for this young player who didn’t join the NBA due to the benefits that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had. This shouldn’t happen in the era of super teams. The small market youth of the roster that everyone suspects is not expected to kill the Giants after the Giants.
But Edwards is doing it, and at this point it feels stupid to try and put the ceiling on him. He may get a shot with curry in the next round. Once he returns to the final of the meeting, he will likely win a date with his much-favorite lightning. You may not think he is as good as Shy Gilgauss Alexander, but he certainly does. Without anything else, the estimated MVP now looks like the right person to him. He’s behaving everyone else, so certainly why not try his luck with a 68 win juggernaut?
The days of Edwards trying to capture the elderly cohort he supported in Paris are over. He is now with the best players in the world, no matter what age he is. And if that wasn’t clear after last year’s run, it should be there now.
