The Timberwolves were inches away from snatching the sixth spot in the West from the Warriors. But Zion Williamson and his Pelicans had other plans. Coming off a loss, this was supposed to be Minnesota’s bounce-back game, which they could have easily secured. Yet, they faltered. The Pelicans, who had only won six road games all season, left them stunned with a 119-115 defeat. After the disappointing game, Anthony Edwards didn’t sugarcoat things. He called out the one crucial issue that’s dragging the team down.
Throughout the game, one thing was clear, the Pelicans executed their best attacks to dismantle Minnesota’s defense. It was obvious that the home team’s defense was lacking. And Edwards made sure to focus on that. “I don’t even think we need buckets. We need to get stops,” Ant said in the locker room interview on Wednesday. He feels that the team’s main issue is not scoring but failing to stop their opponents.
Edwards highlighted that their inability to get defensive stops puts pressure on their offense. He believes that relying on offense alone wouldn’t win them games. Providing more details about their flaws, Ant said, “Offensively… we just got to get into maybe some better actions, but defensively, like, we communicating. We just not boxing out at the end and just don’t got that same pressure and intensity on defense. We had it just two games ago.”
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The shooting guard opened up about the team’s struggles with boxing out and lacking the same intensity and pressure they had in previous games. The Timberwolves probably underestimated New Orleans’ potential to break apart their defense, especially after the Pelicans had come off three losses. But last night, they couldn’t afford to repeat that mistake on Wednesday.
Zion led the Pelicans’ offense with 29 points and 8 assists. He was supported by CJ McCollum with 18 points, Bruce Brown Jr. with 15 points, and others. On the flipside, Anthony Edwards also scored 29 points while the others contributed, but as he mentioned, the scoring wasn’t enough to secure the win. Despite that, the 23-year-old remained optimistic.
Anthony Edwards remains confident in Timberwolves’ ability to bounce back
With the regular season coming to a close, the last thing the Timberwolves want is to fall behind due to a sudden lack of energy and defensive shortcomings. While the last two losses may impact them, there’s still time to bounce back and return to their previous form.
Calling the loss “super frustrating,” Anthony Edwards added, “I can’t dwell about it. I can’t go back and fix it. Can do nothing but come out and play whenever we played them again.” believes they need equally strong defense, which they’re capable of. “Honestly, we just got to bring it. We got it,” he stated. In fact, they’ve had it both last season and this one. Their defense was impressive, so now they just need to bring that same intensity.
“We had it just two games ago, so it’s just been a two-game slump and then get back to it,” a hopeful Edwards claimed. The team will be preparing for their next matchup against the same rivals, with hopes of taking down the Pelicans by stepping up their defense. Whether it works out or not remains to be seen.
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