This isn’t the way things were supposed to end. When the Denver Nuggets bolted to a 20-point lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves halfway through the deciding game of the Western Conference semi-finals, it seemed as if the final chapter of this engrossing, hectic, epic series was written: the defending champions, stunned and humiliated in Games 1, 2 and 6, had risen off the canvas to deliver the decisive blow at the decisive moment. Then something happened. Anthony Edwards happened.
Edwards, the No 1 pick in the 2020 draft, has long been described as the future face of the NBA. At 22, he’s already the undisputed leader of the Timberwolves – an impressive achievement in itself, given he plays with another former No 1 draft pick (Karl-Anthony Towns), an all-time defensive great (Rudy Gobert), and a wily veteran guard (Mike Conley Jr). Boxed out of Game 7’s opening exchanges by a Nuggets defense happy to give the oft-misfiring Gobert open looks, Edwards scored just four points in the first half, and his third quarter began in inauspicious fashion: a shot from beyond the arc clunked off the lip of the rim, then he airballed another attempt. He shook the failures off, reasserted himself in defense, then ran the length of the court for an easy layup.
