Just a few seconds into the game, Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards checked out due to an apparent injury. He quickly shook it off and returned to the court, and fans will be thankful he did.
Edwards dropped 44 points in the Timberwolves’s 113–111 win over the Indiana Pacers, and despite his prolific offensive numbers, it was on the defensive end late in the game where he made his biggest impact.
With Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin looking to score a game-tying layup, Edwards emphatically leapt into the air and blocked the shot, even nicking his head on the rim in the process.
ANTHONY EDWARDS, what a block to end it pic.twitter.com/flqYgACNUh
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) March 8, 2024
Edwards sent Mathurin and Indiana packing with his absurd rejection at the buzzer, and he was fired up in the aftermath, pounding his chest before celebrating with Rudy Gobert.
“Yeah, I hit my head I think on the rim, it’s hurting real bad. And I landed on my wrist, so, you know,” Edwards said postgame. “I ain’t never jumped that high in my life.”
“My pain tolerance is high ... I fell hard again on that block. I think I’m a pretty tough dude, though,” he added.
Edwards’s toughness was on full display Thursday as he overcame the early ankle injury in order to lead his team to an important victory as they look to hold onto the No. 1 seed amid Karl-Anthony Towns’s absence.