DENVER – Anthony Edwards told his teammates his Game 2 performance was going to be different from Game 1. Edwards was going to come out "ultra-aggressive," and he backed up his words.
It had been awhile since the Wolves saw this kind of performance from Edwards, who has battled a sprained ankle, a lingering illness and a sore left shoulder at various points over the last few weeks.
There was nothing hindering Edwards on Wednesday night, not even the Denver defense. He scored 41 points, 27 of those in the second half, in the Wolves' 122-113 loss.
"I came out kind of aggressive Game 1, and I took a back seat," Edwards said. "I told them last night, I'm ultra-aggressive tonight, whether it's me shooting or me finding people."
It took a similar performance from Denver's Jamal Murray (40 points) to cancel out Edwards' big night and lift the Nuggets to a 2-0 series lead. Edwards' big night should not go unnoticed, as he joined elite company by scoring 40 or more points in a playoff game before his 22nd birthday. The only others to do that are LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Ja Morant and Tracy McGrady. But Edwards' play went beyond just scoring, teammate Mike Conley said. Edwards was making the right plays over and over again, and he was able to get the ball in advantageous spots to score as a result.
"He was quick with his decision-making," Conley said. "When he catches the ball looking to attack immediately instead of trying to read the defense and overthink it a little bit too much, he's really tough to guard downhill especially. He was making great reads. He knew where to throw it.
"... He almost scored 50 points, whatever he did, while giving the ball up and making plays, so he can see he can still be aggressive offensively and still be a facilitator for us."
Coach Chris Finch said the team talked to Edwards about shooting more threes on Wednesday, and Edwards obliged with 10 attempts, six makes.
"Now the defense gotta respect my jumper," Edwards said. "If I'm taking two or three, they gonna make me shoot. But if I take 10 and I make five of them, they gotta respect it. I think I did a pretty good job of getting downhill and getting to my midrange, getting to my three-pointer."
It helped that Edwards also got in gear in transition, which enabled him to maximize his athleticism and get to the rim or take open threes. The Wolves saw what can happen when good defense leads to good offense, and vice versa, in the third quarter when they made their push to win Game 2.
But Murray made sure Edwards didn't steal the game. The Wolves felt like they forced Murray into taking tough shots most of the night, but he responded by playing one of his best games since tearing his ACL two seasons ago.
"He did his thang," Edwards said.
Added Wolves center Rudy Gobert: "He had to work for what he got. … In Game 1 he didn't have to work as much. Tonight he had to work. We're going to keep making him work and we're going to keep making them work for what they get and we'll see how it goes."
The Wolves unlocked Edwards, but the biggest issue for them going into Game 3 is getting Karl-Anthony Towns going. Towns is 8-for-27 in the series. Finch said there were subtle things the Wolves might be able to do to make life easier on Towns, such as having him play quicker to combat the Nuggets' physical play, with Finch saying Denver is "fouling him and holding him every single time."
"I've got to continue to do a better job of finding him and getting him opportunities to catch the ball in space," Finch said. "Not a lot of space around him right now."
The Wolves got Edwards his space. Now they need to get Towns his while taking away Murray's.
"We've got to get into him and stay into him," Finch said. "He does a really good job of stopping on a dime and then pivoting and creating separation. We've got to close that gap when he does it."
