Edwards hit a three to put the Wolves up 114-112 with 1 minute, 14 seconds to play before clinching the game doing something he said he worked on all summer — improving his midrange game. The other four Wolves went flat on the baseline to allow Edwards room to operate against his former college teammate at Georgia, Portland’s Toumani Camara. Edwards drove down the left wing and stepped back for a 21-footer that was dead on.
“It felt super comfortable,” Edwards said. “My man, [Wolves assistant coach Chris Hines], the third, fourth workout of the day, we’re all middies. I be super tired, no legs, so I’m used to shooting that shot. Definitely a little more juice going against [Camara], for sure.”
The Wolves likely aren’t in that position to win the game if not for finally finding their footing on defense in the fourth quarter.
“We were talking, communicating. Rudy [Gobert] was the anchor, he was talking to everybody, ‘Cutter, Ant! Box your man out.’ Everybody was on one chord. If we talk like that on the defensive end, we’re going to get a lot of stops.”
After allowing open driving to Portland for chunks of the night, the Wolves contained the ball better in the fourth in allowing just 19 points, their best defensive quarter of the evening.
“Listen, there’s a trend in the league right now of these super physical drivers that put your shoulder on you and you just got to meet them with resistance,” coach Chris Finch said. “… We finally got enough big bodies out there to be able to stand them up and force them into some tougher shots.”
