It seemed like the stars were aligning for the Minnesota Timberwolves in their pursuit of the franchise’s first championship during the 2024 NBA playoffs. Drawing the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the second round was not favorable by any means, but the Timberwolves took care of business, setting up a matchup against the four-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. That, however, was the beginning of the end for Anthony Edwards and company.
Unable to execute in crunch time as well as the Mavericks did, the Timberwolves faltered in three close games to start the series; a 3-0 deficit is a death sentence in the NBA, and this was no different, as Minnesota ended up falling in five games. While coming so close yet finishing so far is always going to be difficult to recover from, emotionally-speaking, Edwards showed in an interview with Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill that he has the perspective of someone beyond his years as he deals with a playoff heartbreak of such magnitude.
“That s**t gone. I can’t do nothing about it. I can’t go back and replay it. It’s over. We lost,” Edwards said, via ClutchPoints Twitter (X).
Vincent Goodwill: "How long does it take to get over [the Western Conference Finals loss]?"
Anthony Edwards: "That sh*t gone."
VG: "Most people say they use it as a motivating factor."
Ant-Man: "Man, they be lying." 😅
(via @YahooSports)pic.twitter.com/MC9Wbi1mlr
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 8, 2024
The Timberwolves are still in a solid enough position to mount another deep playoff run in the dreaded Western Conference; all Anthony Edwards is looking forward to now is taking everything they learned from their playoff series loss against the Mavericks and make sure that they don’t repeat the same mistakes.
“All I’m thinking about now is like, if we get back here, what’re we gonna do? You know what I mean? So yeah, it’s over with,” Edwards added.
Anthony Edwards, being his usual confident self, also mentioned that the defeat to the Mavericks isn’t so much a motivating factor as much as it is a learning experience; after all, the Timberwolves star contended that every player must be motivated to get better regardless of whether or not you win.
“You should always be motivated to get better and come back better.”
There are plenty of reasons for the Timberwolves fans’ undying appreciation of Anthony Edwards, and his continued candor continues to be one of them.
Looking back on Anthony Edwards and company’s WCF defeat to the Mavericks
The Timberwolves may have lost to the Mavericks in five games in the Western Conference Finals, but it’s not like they were far off in quality from the team that eventually won the Western Conference championship. They were right there in Games 1 and 2; Game 2, in particular, was theirs to lose before Luka Doncic drove the dagger into their hearts.
What the Timberwolves struggled with was that they didn’t have enough firepower in the backcourt to combat Doncic and Kyrie Irving; Doncic and Irving controlled the flow of the game so well that Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II feasted in the paint even though Minnesota had the services of 2024 Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.
Anthony Edwards also has to hold himself to a higher standard; Edwards did not have the conditioning to be the best player on both ends of the floor, with him suffering through bouts of exhaustion in the early goings of the Conference Finals.
The good news is that the Timberwolves did not overreact; they know that their current core is good enough to challenge for a championship. It’s now all about perfecting their execution at crucial moments as well as hoping that they come up against a team that they match up better against in the playoffs.
Assessing the Timberwolves’ 2024-25 roster
The Timberwolves do not have a ton of roster-building flexibility since they are guaranteed to cross the second tax apron. Nonetheless, they still managed to pull off a few moves this offseason that will be helpful not just for next season, but for their future.
For starters, they were able to trade their 2031 first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for the draft rights to Rob Dillingham, a Kentucky guard who has the athleticism and swagger to match Anthony Edwards. Dillingham, if all goes according to plan in his development as a player, should be the Timberwolves’ point guard of the future, what with Mike Conley being 36 years old.
The Timberwolves then signed Joe Ingles to give them another sharpshooter off the bench and a forward who will be taking Kyle Anderson’s minutes. PJ Dozier was also brought in for some insurance at the point guard position. And most importantly, the team’s core seven (Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, Gobert, Conley, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker) is still intact.
Anything short of a Conference Finals appearance would be a huge disappointment, although crazier things have happened in the stacked conference that is the West.
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