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The Minnesota Timberwolves are proving that they belong in the NBA Playoffs. Coach Chris Finch led his team to an insane 119-114 win over Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets. To no one's surprise, it was the heroics of Anthony Edwards which pushed them a series-tying victory. A big reason why he did great was because he worked on modeling his game after a certain Miami Heat legend — Dwyane Wade.
Why Edwards wants to be more like Wade in Timberwolves' NBA Playoffs run
To put it simply, Anthony Edwards wants to win against the Nuggets and it requires him to be stronger downhill then at the rim. Aside from Nikola Jokic, their NBA Playoffs opponents have insanely athletic rim protectors like Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson, Spencer Jones, and Jonas Valanciunas. So, the Timberwolves star looked to the most lethal downhill guard who can bang bodies inside the paint in Dwyane Wade.
Edwards explains how and why he has been doing this for the NBA Playoffs, via Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.
"I just be watching Dwyane Wade clips. He was beating s*** at the rim. So I just be trying to beat s*** at the rim. That’s all. People come to the rim, and if Rudy ain’t down there, I’m trying to beat that s***. I don’t care who it is. So, if you come down there and you see No. 5 down there, I’m going up. I don’t give a damn," the Timberwolves star declared.
This paid off for the Timberwolves. See, Edwards' outside shot was not falling as he only made 27.3% of his three-pointers. This adjustment got him 14 points off his work inside the arc. More than that, the Nuggets also could not help but foul him when he was playing like prime Wade on the Heat. This netted him nine attempts in the charity striped and he knocked down seven of those free throws.
A lot of Edwards' work downhill and at the rim have also translated to cleaning the boards. He notched 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves which snowballed into their NBA Playoffs Game 2 win.
Wade is a great player to model one's game after. He won three championships with the Heat using that exact playstyle. Will it pay the same dividends for Edwards and the Timberwolves?
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