Anthony Edwards scores 16 of the Wolves’ 34 1st-quarter points as Minnesota dominates OKC in Game 3.
MINNEAPOLIS — The league’s top-rated defense confronted the league’s most diverse offensive player for seven playoff games and survived. That’s why the Thunder are in the Western Conference Finals and Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets are not.
This is now a different playoff round for OKC and against a different individual threat, but is the challenge of reducing Anthony Edwards’s production altogether different? In some ways, yes. In some ways, not really.
Let OKC coach Mark Daigneault explain:
“I think in the Denver series, as good as we defended Jokić at times, he had a pair of 40-point games. When you’re playing against these really good players you’re not just holding them down.”
So there’s the simple lesson for Monday’s Game 4 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) and beyond (if the West Finals go much further). The degree to which OKC can hold up against Edwards will determine if this series will suddenly get tighter, or if the Wolves will ultimately become a one-win wonder.
Edwards obviously means that much to the scope of Minnesota’s offense and outlook, especially once he decided to be motivated from the jump ball. That wasn’t the case in Game 1 and it was costly for Minnesota, which has limited means for buckets.
In the follow-up game, Edwards brought the force but labored greatly. Then, in the Wolves’ blowout Game 3 win, he was volcanic as OKC had no answer.
Anthony Edwards scores 30 points to lead Minnesota to a 143-101 victory in Game 3 of the West Finals.
Edwards is learning that truly great players — and he’s on that track to join them — don’t need to be reminded by their coaches and teammates to be aggressive. Certainly not this deep in the playoffs. Great players aren’t built that way. They realize the stakes. They don’t require a tap on the shoulder.
Edwards has talked that talk lately, starting with Team USA at last summer’s Olympics, about being on the A-list and the best player on any floor, regardless of who’s on the other bench. It’s exactly the mindset a team needs from a young star; you win with these types, who aren’t intimidated by the stage.
If his relaxed Game 1 approach — where he didn’t look to shoot at times — is history, then OKC’s defense will be tested for the second straight round.
He’s at his best in isolation, sizing up his man and weighing his options. He can go downhill, or he can settle for jumpers, or if the double-team arrives, he can find Jaden McDaniels in the corner or Julius Randle on the wing. When Edwards developed a taste for volume deep shooting starting this season, it increased his weapons.
“These All-NBA, All-Star players, not one person is going to shut them down for the game,” said OKC guard Alex Caruso. “We have to make sure we’re early, in the spots we’re supposed to be, and stay anticipatory. That’s because he’s strong and athletic and can get there before we’re ready. When he does that, it’s in his favor.”
Against Jokić, the Thunder threw several looks his way and kept him guessing. They used size with Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren. They used smarts with Caruso, who was 100 pounds lighter and six inches shorter. They forced him to pass, they attacked his dribble.
Edwards isn’t the same player, doesn’t play the same position and he isn’t the same size. There’s more responsibility on Caruso and Lu Dort this series, and others if OKC chooses to send multiple players in Edwards’ path.
Here’s what OKC has for options and the decisions the Thunder must make with Edwards:
• Play him straight up with Dort. This is the most logical plan, at least for starters. Dort is freshly named to the All-Defensive First Team. He has played against Edwards countless times. He’s shorter but just as strong.
Perhaps you noticed how Dort and Edwards briefly engaged in some physical give-and-take in Game 3. Nothing vicious, and it didn’t escalate into anything more than shoves. But Dort threw a message if not the gauntlet.
Still, even with that, Edwards started strong in Game 3 with 16 points in the first quarter and set the tone for the rest of the game.
• Weave in Caruso as much as possible. The Thunder acquired Caruso last summer for this very reason, just as they brought in Hartenstein for Jokić. OKC wanted an extra layer of defense in case they met Edwards in the playoffs, and here we are.
The quality of defense doesn’t dip much when Dort leaves and Caruso enters. That can be exhausting for an offensive player who might expect a breather once the sixth man checks in. Not so with the Thunder, and the Dort-Caruso 1-2 punch is partly why OKC is so tenacious defensively.
• Force Edwards to pass. There’s a difference between forcing Jokić to pass and forcing Edwards — Jokić is more skilled, gets his teammates involved and their confidence up, and sometimes that’s the worst option for a defense.
In this situation, OKC might be better off with the ball in the hands of McDaniels, who’s a streaky shooter, and Randle, who’s mistake-prone. Those are the only other Wolves who can cause damage as Minnesota lacks another volume shooter.
And if it means Donte DiVincenzo or Naz Reid are the options, both have struggled so far in this series from 3-point range. Again, the Thunder will go with the favorable percentages.
• Keep Edwards from attacking the rim. Good things happen for the Wolves when Edwards breaks down defenses and gets into the paint. He draws fouls, finds teammates or delivers a poster dunk.
Is Edwards less effective from 3-point range? Depends on the day. He’s taking nine per game in the playoffs and during the regular season attempted more 3-pointers than Stephen Curry.
Edwards settling for that shot might seem comforting for the defense, until you realize he’s making almost 40%. He can be streaky, but when he’s on target, he forces the defense to respect that shot and check him tighter … which allows him to get to the rim easier.
“We have to make decisions on whether to stick with things and make them better, or adjust,” said Daigneault. “How we employ that and when, we’ll see.”
OKC will allow Edwards, the scoreboard and the flow to dictate the strategy. It all depends on Edwards and whether he forces OKC’s hand.
He can only do that with the forceful approach he took in Game 3. Scoring-wise, Edwards has been inconsistent in the playoffs — superb one night, merely good another, and disappearing for stretches in yet another.
He has scoring highs of 43 points and lows of 15 — and that wild swing came in consecutive games (in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers).
With the Wolves coming off a dominant victory and now three wins from the NBA Finals, Edwards has the incentive to stay at a high level.
“He plays with great tempo and force,” Daigneault said. “His shot-making was excellent. We did a great job on him in Game 1, a pretty good job in Game 2; he had 32 points, but we made him work hard and he took 26 shots. He needed a lot of energy to get those points. They were on our terms, at least they way we saw them.
“The other night was the opposite. They were on his terms and he deserves credit for that.”
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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