Anthony Edwards is playing through pain for Minnesota. He has no other choice

Atlantic76ersCelticsKnicksNetsRaptorsCentralBucksBullsCavaliersPacersPistonsSoutheastHawksHeatHornetsMagicWizardsSouthwestGrizzliesMavericksPelicansRocketsSpursNorthwestJazzNuggetsThunderTimberwolvesTrail BlazersPacificClippersKingsLakersSunsWarriorsScores & ScheduleStandingsThe Bounce NewsletterNBA DraftPodcastsFantasyNBA OddsNBA PicksLatest Mock DraftWhat Makes Up Championship DNA?Player Poll: Who is the MVP?Player Poll: Who Will Win Title?NBA Playoffs Anthony Edwards scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to help the Timberwolves beat the Spurs in Game 1. Daniel Dunn / Imagn Images Share articleSAN ANTONIO — He has more money than he could spend in this or several more lifetimes. He has an Olympic gold medal and an All-Star MVP trophy in Minnesota, shimmering reminders of his prodigious talent. He is only 24 years old, with his whole basketball life ahead of him to chase more wins, get more buckets and build on a career that has already taken the Minnesota Timberwolves to heights they have never seen without him. All of that is said to make one thing clear: Anthony Edwards does not need to be doing this right now. He does not need to be hobbling out onto the court in the second round of the NBA playoffs to go head-to-head with a shot-blocking force with arms long enough to blot out the sun. Everyone saw his left knee buckle in the first round against the Denver Nuggets, so he didn’t need to rush back to prove anything to anyone. Then again, maybe Edwards does need it. Maybe all the money, all the AE2 colorways and all the guest appearances in Adam Sandler movies are not enough for Edwards. Maybe deep down inside of him, in places that those draft experts who questioned his love of the game never took the time to explore, Edwards doesn’t just want to be out on the floor with his teammates. Maybe he needs to be out there with them. How else to explain what happened in San Antonio on Monday night, when Edwards limped into Frost Bank Center and scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to help push the Timberwolves to a 104-102 victory over the heavily favored Spurs? What else could compel him to put his body through around-the-clock treatment on the painful inflammation in his right knee and the hyperextension and bone bruise in his left one so he could return at least five days sooner than anyone expected? What Ant did against the Spurs in Game 1 of this Western Conference semifinal series can’t be bought. It can’t be faked. No one was pressuring him to do it. If anything, there were people around the organization trying to pump the brakes on his grand plans. Be smart. It’s only Game 1. No reason to rush it.  Edwards wasn’t having any of it. He might be young, but his awareness of the opportunity in front of him is becoming clearer and clearer. He has roared to the conference finals in each of the last two seasons, only to go out with a whimper. As he strides toward his prime, he has surveyed the NBA landscape and seen how proud champions in Boston, Milwaukee, Denver and Golden State have all fallen. For the first time in his six-year career, he has suffered from injuries that could not be shrugged off. He also believes in his team as much as ever. He does not want to leave them to fight Victor Wembanyama and the 62-win Spurs without him. “I wanted to be out there with my brothers,” Edwards said. Anyone of sound mind would be forgiven if he decided to sit this one out. The Wolves play twice in San Antonio before returning home for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday. Had Edwards skipped both the road games, his knees would have gotten 13 days of rest. He has already seen Donte DiVincenzo suffer a catastrophic injury in this postseason, so who could blame him if he wanted to play it safe? Few have ever accused Edwards of thinking rationally when it comes to his abilities on the court. Then again, would you call Kobe Bryant well-adjusted when it came to playing through injury? How often did Michael Jordan look an athletic trainer in the eye and say, “You know what, you’re right. I’ll take it easy and rest up for a little while longer.” Make no mistake, the toughness, the drive, the refusal to give in to an injury that would keep most players out for weeks, that was more Jordan than any turnaround jumper or soaring dunk could ever be. “I mean, nobody expected him to play,” said guard Mike Conley, who scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. “Just his level of commitment to the game, not only to the game, but to his teammates. That just showed a lot.” If there has been one quibble about Edwards’ game over the years, it has been how inattentive he could be at times in caring for his body. Rudy Gobert was only half-joking last weekend when he told a story about Wembanyama calling him to ask what kind of water filter he uses at home. When asked if Edwards, or any of his younger Wolves teammates, ever asked him for tips on diet or water filtration, the veteran let out a big sigh. “I try to talk to the young guys here about the food they eat and stuff like that,” Gobert said. “But I don’t get those kind of questions.” Edwards’ teammates have a running joke about watching him hit the floor hard and appear to be seriously injured, only to see him return no worse for the wear. “I just remember last year being here at the beginning of the year, and he would take a nasty fall or a hit or whatever,” Julius Randle said. “We might have to call a timeout, and you’re like, damn, he might be hurt for real. Then he just gets up. I’m not surprised. He loves to play the game, so he’s going to do whatever he can to put himself in position to be out here.” He is called Wolverine for his fast-healing body. But in some ways, that has been a detriment to him. Before this pair of knee ailments, Edwards had never truly committed himself to rest and recovery. His body was just too young and too strong for him to worry much about it. That is not unique in the league. “He didn’t really have the habits, as you would expect, as an 18-, 19-year-old,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. The two knee injuries have put Edwards’ seemingly superhuman ability to recover from injury to the test. His right knee caused him to miss 11 of the last 14 regular-season games. When he felt his left knee buckle in Game 4 against the Nuggets, it sent a new concern through him. Suddenly, he couldn’t just go to bed and wake up without any pain. He was told to give it at least two weeks, which would have put him on track to play in Game 4 of the second round. That just would not do. “He loves to play the game,” Finch said. “We dodged a bullet when it happened. He’s done an incredible job, and our medical staff has done an unbelievable job of getting him to this point. He was super motivated by the fact we were able to get that first series. I think that was a little bit of an inspiration for him, too.” For the first time in his life, Edwards threw himself into the rehab process with diligence and attention to detail. That included his first-ever treatment in a hyperbaric chamber on Saturday and pool work throughout the week. He did not attend Game 6 against Denver to receive further treatment for his knees. All the modalities started to show progress last weekend. Edwards did some light work on Saturday and then incorporated jumping into his program on Sunday. Suddenly, the light at the end of the tunnel was blinding. “He has done an outstanding job over the last five years of really dedicating himself to his routine,” Finch said. “It’s times like this that that pays off.” The last thing the Wolves wanted to do was take any significant chances with the face of their franchise. However, after thorough examinations by the medical staff, Edwards was cleared to return to action. “Just seeing him in the building, a part of our practices, a part of our shootaround, just being active, it just gave us all that hope,” Conley said. The Timberwolves entered Game 1 as heavy underdogs, thanks to the injuries to Edwards, DiVincenzo (Achilles) and Ayo Dosunmu (calf). Finch was given a 25-minute limit for Edwards, so the coach brought his star off the bench to manage the time constraints better. The absences and the doubt only seemed to embolden Edwards. He eased his way into the game, scoring five points in the first quarter, testing his knee to see what his body would allow. By the time the third quarter was over, Edwards had just seven points on 3-of-6 shooting in 15 minutes, and the Spurs looked like they were ready to pull away. San Antonio led by three points heading into the fourth, and that’s when Edwards made his move. He hit two 3s in Minnesota’s first three possessions, including one over Wembanyama’s outstretched hand to put the Wolves in front. He also fed Randle for a 3 and got those creaky knees warmed up enough to score on two drives to the basket and swat Dylan Harper in the paint. He punctuated an 11-point flurry in the first five minutes of the quarter by breaking Keldon Johnson down one-on-one and scoring a tough floater in the lane for an 88-84 lead. Johnson stared Edwards down after the bucket and hollered, “You’re struggling!” Edwards barked back at him and then watched Randle take them home. Randle scored nine of his 21 points in the fourth and grabbed 10 rebounds, Naz Reid had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 16 points while taking a lot of ballhandling duties off of Edwards. Shannon had zero turnovers in 35 minutes. “I called him my hero before the game,” Conley said of Edwards. “You look up to somebody for what he just put himself through in the last week just to get ready for Game 1.” The Wolves led by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, but Edwards had a bad turnover on an inbounds play to give Harper a dunk and missed two box outs of Julian Champagnie to let the Spurs back in the game. Champagnie missed a 3 at the buzzer that would have won the game. “Just game plan mistakes that won’t happen again,” Edwards said. After the game, optimism pulsed through the Timberwolves’ locker room. The defense that shut down Denver’s No. 1-ranked offense in the first round just held Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox to 10-of-31 shooting, including 0 of 12 from 3. Minnesota also gave up 27 fast-break points to San Antonio, missed nine free throws and had a hard time adjusting to the presence in the paint of Wembanyama, who blocked 12 shots. The Wolves know they can play a lot better. But their biggest reason for belief stems from knowing that No. 5 is back doing what he loves to do most — walking into an enemy arena and going at it with the five guys on the floor and the 19,000 in the stands. “I mean, everybody in the arena is against us,” Edwards said. “I think that’s the best thing. … Chanting ‘Go Spurs Go’ and doing all that. I’m with Minnesota. I got Minnesota back at all times.” He will be back for more in Game 2 on Wednesday. Not because he wants to, but because he needs to. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms