It’s over! Breaking the hearts of the fans in Minnesota, the Denver Nuggets finally ended the Timberwolves’ fairytale six-game winning streak in these playoffs. Displaying their Championship mettle with their backs against the wall, The Joker and his squad blew out the Timberwolves by twenty-seven points in Friday’s game, that too on their home court, the Target Center. Moreover, a major reason for the Timberwolves’ embarrassing loss was the no-show performance by their superstar Anthony Edwards, who on a rare occasion, struggled on offense and finished with only nineteen points.
During the pregame warmups, dancing and joking around with his teammates, Edwards seemed to have great energy. But as soon as the ball was tossed in the air, Ant-Man’s energy slowly started dropping and eventually fell flat toward the end of the game. Not looking as sharp, as athletic, or as focused as he usually does on the court, Edwards took only fifteen shots all night and missed seven of them. Then, after the game, even he took the blame for his team’s first playoff loss of the year, “I’ll take the blame for this loss. I came out with no energy. I came out flat.”
"I'll take the blame for this loss. I came out with no energy. I came out flat."
Anthony Edwards breaks down the Timberwolves' frustrating 117-90 Game 3 loss to the Nuggets 🗣
(via @BallySportsNOR) pic.twitter.com/0j334g5pNE
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 11, 2024
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Meanwhile, making up for their awful performance in the last two games, Jokic and Murray took matter into their own hands, combining for forty-eight points on the night. After scoring just eight points in the last game, and facing heat for his terrible shooting, Murray came back swinging and shot eleven of twenty-one from the field tonight. However, rather than looking dejected during the blowout loss and getting intimidated by the defending Champions, Edwards was seen motivating his teammates for the next game, “It’s a series, bruh, we good.”
Maybe, that’s the kind of mentality that has led to him being compared with the likes of Michael Jordan.
Anthony Edwards gets the “Superstar” treatment from fans after humiliating loss
Like every other superstar in the league who faces criticism after a big loss in the playoffs, Anthony Edwards also found himself as tonight’s target for the NBA World. Following his underwhelming performance, fans took to social media to slam the young star. And reacting to a picture of him complaining to the officials, one fan accused him of taking a page out of LeBron James’ book, “Jumps like Jordan, Mentality like Kobe, Crybaby like LeBron.”
Jumps like Jordan
Mentality like Kobe
Crybaby like LeBron— thaven (@thavenNFT) May 11, 2024
Famous for throwing tantrums on the court after things not going according his way, LeBron has become the benchmark for fans to criticize players who complain on the court. And tonight, Ant-Man had to face that comparison.
This fan even shared an AI-generated video with Edwards’ face superimposed on a woman, claiming that’s how he behaves when his team is down double-digit points.
“Ant, we’re down by 25 do something!”
Ant:pic.twitter.com/mkSNOh0LsD
— Pal 💫 (@YourCDLPal) May 11, 2024
Slamming Edwards while he was down, this fan claimed that he still hasn’t shown up for the game, likely referring to his performance being as good as him not playing.
Rumor has it, Anthony Edwards still hasn’t shown up for the game.
— Mona (@RealMona_) May 11, 2024
After watching Edwards struggle for the first time in these playoffs, this fan went one step further and asked the people to stop comparing him with Michael Jordan.
We can end the MJ talk now.
— Aɳƚι•ɳϝʅυҽɳƈҽɾ (@anti_nfluencer) May 11, 2024
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However, one bad performance is not enough to disregard what Ant-Man has done so far as he is still one of the most talented and exciting young superstars in the league.
One fan even wanted Nikola Jokic to recreate Edwards’ famous DX taunt after the Timberwolves swept the Suns in the first-round series.
I need the Ant dx video with Jokic doing it 🤣
— Mario (@Marionotbros2) May 11, 2024
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But Edwards knew that this series was not going to be as easy as the last one as he also mentioned after the game, “They’re the defending Champions. We didn’t expect it to be easy.” And with the next game again on their home court, Edwards will look to silence the critics by putting on a show in Minnesota and winning Game 4.