We asked the question after Game 1. We ran the piece, “Jokić Cooked the Wolves in Game 1. Can Ant Respond?” It was a fair question. Jokic had a triple-double before halftime, Jamal Murray shot 16-of-16 from the line, and Anthony Edwards went 7-of-19 from the floor in a loss.
He responded.
30 points. 10 rebounds. 2 blocks. A comeback from 19 down. In Denver. On a knee that kept him out of 11 of Minnesota’s final 14 regular-season games. He was listed as QUESTIONABLE on a game-day injury report and still went out there and played 40 minutes.
After the final buzzer, Edwards told reporters: “I’m ass, bro. I missed 15 shots.” That’s 30 points and a win being described as ass. That’s the mentality gap between him and most players in this league.
The context around that performance matters. This is a player the NBA ruled ineligible for every individual award this season — denied his extraordinary circumstances appeal despite missing games to patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee, no structural damage) — while approving identical appeals for Cade Cunningham and Luka Doncic at 64 games each. Edwards played 61. Four games short. The league’s logic failed a public smell test on that one. Carmelo Anthony had already called him “the best player in the NBA” after Edwards won All-Star MVP in February, and the official response was: doesn’t count, can’t play enough games.
Kevin Garnett had the only correct take:
Eff it! Go get Finals MVP then @anthonyedwards 😤😤😤 https://t.co/rZcvFCt9zu
— Kevin Garnett (@KevinGarnett5KG) April 17, 2026
That’s not a consolation tweet. That’s a Kobe-style redirect. The regular season wasn’t going to settle it — fine. The playoffs are the stage now.
Sit with the numbers for a second. Edwards finished the regular season averaging 28.8 points per game — third in the NBA — on 48.9/39.9/79.6 splits. He is the only player in the league this season averaging 28-plus points on 40-plus percent from three. The Dunking With Wolves analysis clocked him as the seventh player in NBA history to hit that threshold. The others: Larry Bird, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Nikola Jokic, Michael Jordan, Damian Lillard. That’s not a list you stumble onto.
The Kobe comparison isn’t a Twitter take anymore — it’s a historical record. Edwards and Kobe Bryant are the only two players in NBA postseason history to record consecutive 40-point games at age 22 or younger. Two. Ever. And now he’s running a 26-point, 9.5-rebound, 2.5-block series average through two games against the defending-Western-Conference-caliber Nuggets with a busted knee.
Coach Finch said it plainly after Game 2: “He recognized he needed to get into attack mode.” Edwards’ own explanation for the mindset shift was more specific — he said he spent his recovery watching Dwyane Wade film, specifically how Wade attacked the rim. Then he went out and attacked the rim.
The counter is real: 10-of-25 from the floor, 3-of-11 from three isn’t a finals-MVP line. Denver can make him a pull-up shooter and the efficiency drops. He’ll need to solve that. The series isn’t over, and the Wolves haven’t been past the second round under his watch yet.
But the window to call him “developing” is closed. Game 3 is Thursday at Target Center. The ceiling conversation is already open.
