We all knew that when the Timberwolves traded out Karl-Anthony Towns and his $220 million contract to the Knicks, his former teammate Anthony Edwards would have to take on many more offensive responsibilities than he’s used to. This has also meant that rivals are dedicating more defensive attention over the 23-year-old.
As the Minnesota team has lost three out of their last four outings, the young superstar said this weekend that he was feeling frustrated when opponents double-team against him. Even so, the forward was able to score a career-high 53 points on Saturday, which represented the majority of his team’s scoring total, alongo with 2 assists and 6 turnovers.
However, even though he accounted for 31 of the Wolves’ 80 attempts, his team still lost 119-105 against the Pistons that Saturday night. “That’s a good brand of basketball, but it’s not how I want to play, of course. I’m only 23, I don’t want to just be passing the ball all night,” he said. “But the way that they’re guarding me, I think I have to.”
"The best version of Anthony Edwards, we watched play in that mid-range. … If you want easier looks, you got to put pressure on these guys as well."@TeamLou23 explains how Anthony Edwards can counter being guarded by double-teams
📺 https://t.co/GmiBzcUOku pic.twitter.com/mThZxik6kE
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) January 3, 2025
Ant admitted that it was “super hard” to stay in the game while being double-teamed by rival defenses, and he isn’t sure how to confront this.”Them doubling me, definitely it’s like, ‘Bro, what is going on?’ I’m trying to figure it out … I don’t know what to do honestly, but it’s not fun.
“I don’t want to look like I’m not trying or not as good as I am, because I am, but I can’t show it because I’m getting double-teamed,” he kept at it. “It’s definitely frustrating to see these guys cooking us and I can’t cook them.”
These aren’t exactly the words you want to hear from your team’s star, as Edwards is pretty much revealing to his future teams that double-teaming him is the way to stop him. If you want to become an NBA superstar, dealing with these type of pressures are pretty much your rite of passage.
Fortunately for the Timberwolves, they returned to victory this past Monday night and snapped a three-game losing streak. Their recent victory against the Los Angeles Clippers means they are No. 9 in the Western Conference standings with an 18-17 record, after Anthony lead the charge with 37 points to his name.
