DENVER — Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid faced off in a shooting contest after practice Saturday, a day before the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets to determine the winner of their Western Conference semifinal series against the defending NBA champions.
The Wolves’ budding superstar and the league’s Sixth Man of the Year started in one corner and challenged each other to hit five 3-pointers from seven points around the perimeter, to see who would be the first to finish from the opposite corner. In the shoot-to-miss format, Edwards quickly turned on and advanced to the final corner point, while Reid was stuck on the No. 3 point, hitting the wing.
To give Reid a chance to catch up, Edwards began taking high-arcing shots, launching the ball almost to the ceiling of the Nuggets’ practice court. When Reid finally got into his rhythm and rounded the 3-point line, just two points from the final corner, Edwards stopped wasting time: he returned to his usual shooting style and calmly finished the contest.
In a way, it mirrored what the Wolves are trying to do to Denver in this series. Minnesota went up 2-0 early, lost three in a row to fall 3-2 and then blasted the Nuggets by 45 points in Game 6 on Thursday to set up Sunday’s decider.
And Edwards looks at the Nuggets with the same self-assurance he had Saturday when he smiled at Reid before hitting the final corner 3-pointer to win the shootout.
“I think we’re confident just because we’re a great team,” Edwards said. “We’re facing another great team and we feel like we’re the better team. That’s all the confidence we need. The previous two games (the Wolves won in Denver) don’t mean anything. They beat our butts.” on our court, so that doesn’t mean anything. “Now it’s about who will play better tomorrow.”
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The Wolves played their best in Game 6, holding the Nuggets to a franchise playoff-low 70 points on just 30.2% shooting (19.4% from 3). Edwards was the game’s leading scorer with 27 points, but he wasn’t Minnesota’s only contributor.
Jaden McDaniels scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Mike Conley had 13 points and 5 assists while returning from right Achilles soreness that caused him to miss Game 5. Karl-Anthony Towns had 10 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. as he plays effective defense against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Rudy Gobert (8 points, 14 rebounds) and Reid (10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench) also left their mark.
Conley, 36, is in his 17th season and has gone 0-4 in his seventh career games. The most recent loss was to these same Nuggets when Conley was with the Utah Jazz in the first round of the 2020 playoffs in the NBA bubble. Trailing 80-78 as the clock ticked in the fourth quarter, Conley received a pass near center court and attempted a game-winning 3-pointer from the left wing as time expired.
He walked away and the Nuggets advanced.
“I’ve replayed it a lot (in my mind),” Conley said Saturday. “Having the opportunity to win a Game 7 like that and not being able to shoot was tough. Now here we are in a similar situation, where we get to play the same team, with a lot of the same guys. So for me, it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”
Now on his third team with more than one full season of postseason play under his belt (Sunday will mark his 88th), Conley knows he may not have many more bites at the apple.
“He mentioned before the playoffs that this could be one of his best and last opportunities to have a chance like this and win the ring or go far in the playoffs,” Towns said of Conley. “We all have tremendous respect for him. We would love to be at our best, especially tomorrow, and continue this journey to potentially get him a ring. I think we can all agree that we would do anything for Mike Conley.”
Edwards, 22, had never before played in a Game 7. The West semifinals are just the fourth playoff series in his four-year career.
While he has also praised the Wolves’ veteran point guard as the playoffs have progressed, going so far as to say that Conley’s presence was the difference in Minnesota winning Game 6 after losing Game 5 without him, Edwards has his own motivation. for the Sunday.
Just as he wanted to take down Reid in the shootaround after practice, he wants to take down Denver.
“I want to win it myself,” Edwards said, matter-of-factly, when asked if he wanted to win Game 7 for Conley. “I wasn’t with Mike when he was in Game 7, so that has nothing to do with me.
“Yes, I want to win it by myself.”
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