In 34 minutes, he had 27 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, only 1 turnover, 4-of-9 three-pointers, and a plus/minus of +43. Edwards has delivered a beautiful answer in the battle of life and death, he has played both offense and defense, and he has played a true leadership role on and off the court. After the game, Edwards revealed the secret, and he scolded Towns and warned him not to foul easily, which Towns did, which helped the Timberwolves limit Jokic.
For the Timberwolves to beat the Nuggets, they need to limit the Nuggets Yomu combination. In this game, Nuggets outside scorer Murray suffered a trapped elbow injury and performed poorly, while Jokic was also limited. Jokic shot 9-of-19 from the field and 0-of-4 from three-point range to finish with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists. Jokic shot less than 50 percent from the field again.
In this year's playoffs, Jokic lost all three games with less than 50% shooting, and won the other seven games with a shooting percentage of more than 50%. Jokic only had two assists in this game, a new personal low for the season.
In the last game, Jokic made a big splash at home, scoring 40 points, 7 rebounds and 13 assists, completely blowing up the Timberwolves' interior line. Jokic is completely like playing the Timberwolves' twin towers. But in this game, Jokic was limited by the Timberwolves' three interior players taking turns defending.
Towns is one of the main players in defending Jokic. In this game, Towns had 10 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Edwards spoke after the game about Towns' defense against Jokic.
"I think the most important thing today was that he stayed out of foul trouble, like I told him when I played the Suns. That's it. I mean, I scolded him. I'll scold him at every chance, brother, don't foul you. I think you've all seen that if Downs doesn't foul much, we can win almost every time. He had three fouls tonight, but only those three, not five. Edwards said after the game.
Edwards became more and more a leader, daring to speak harshly to Downs. You know, when Edwards first came to the Timberwolves, the leader of the team was Towns. It's just that Towns has been the leader of the Timberwolves for many years, and he still lacks a ruthlessness.
Edwards, on the other hand, has continued to improve and has become a veritable leader of the team this season. Downs was also convinced to be Edwards' helper.
Jokic admitted after the game: "They kicked our ass, they did a better job than us in all aspects of the game, and we have to take it. Losing 45 points is something that doesn't happen very often, and you have to accept it. ”
The 22-year-old Edwards already has a supergiant demeanor. In the first round of the playoffs against the Suns, he averaged 31.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game, shooting 51.2% from the field, 43.8% from three-point range and 83.9% from the free throw line.
In this round against the Nuggets, he still has a high offensive efficiency, averaging 29.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, shooting 55.1% from the field, 41.5% from three-point range, and 83.8% from the free throw line.
When Edwards first entered the NBA, his NBA template was Wade, but he practiced three-point shooting and was more well-rounded offensively than Wade. In this year's playoffs, more and more people are describing Huazi as Jordan's successor. The 22-year-old new wolf king has stepped into the ranks of supergiants ahead of schedule.