Anthony Edwards raised many eyebrows when he went to the San Antonio Spurs’ huddle with eight minutes remaining in Game 6 of their second-round playoff series with the Minnesota Timberwolves to congratulate his opponent for winning.
Conceding defeat with the majority of the fourth quarter to be played — and the Timberwolves facing elimination — was perceived as unusual. Yet Edwards disagreed with the criticism directed his way.
“I feel like everybody’s just got their own opinion,” Edwards said in a video on his YouTube channel. “There’s eight minutes left in the game, but we’re not going back in the game. When you win a playoff series, everybody is celebrating at the end of the game, so they’re going to be smiling, while I’m pissed off that we just lost.”
During a timeout called with the Spurs leading 128-95, Edwards exchanged handshakes and hugs with the San Antonio players and coaches. While it was a nice display of sportsmanship, and the Spurs did go on to win the game 139-109 to clinch the series victory, that sort of gesture is usually reserved for after the game.
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Following the game, Amazon Prime NBA analysts Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin and Udonis Haslem said they’d never seen that done before under such circumstances.
“As great as Ant is, as a basketball player, there’s still some growth for him, as well,” Haslem said. “As a leader, I would not have walked down there and shook their hands.”
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Edwards said that he didn’t want to wait until the game was over so he could avoid watching the Spurs celebrate the series win on the Timberwolves’ home court.
“I didn’t want to dap them up at all, but then what would they be saying about me? It would have been a whole other conversation,” he added. “I gave them the respect they deserve. I could’ve waited until the end of the game, that’s some people’s perspective, but I did what I did. That’s why I’m me and y’all are whoever y’all are.”
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Despite sustaining a bone bruise and hyperextension in his left knee during Minnesota’s first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, Edwards played in all six games against the Spurs. He averaged 23.7 points, scoring 32 in Game 3 and 36 in Game 4, while shooting 47% from the floor.
Edwards went on to say that he and the Timberwolves will challenge the Spurs again next season.
“I tip my cap to them. They came out and balled,” he said. “But we’ll be back. Y’all won, y’all beat us, but that s*** won’t last forever.”
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