Kyrie Irving’s Defensive Clap-Back at Anthony Edwards Had Him in “Handcuffs” as Wolves Failed to Keep Up, Says Kendrick Perkins

The Dallas Mavericks have Kendrick Perkins in his feelings. His X page was super active throughout Game 5 last night at a trash-talk level. Enabled by Kyrie Irving’s performance, he even threw Anthony Edwards‘ words at him sneakily. Perk has been on the Kyrie bandwagon all series. And tonight, as he matched Luka Doncic with 36 points apiece, the ESPN analyst had a little pep in his fingers typing out a cheeky post to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Kyrie got the handcuffs on Ant Man,” he said on X amid a series of posts throughout the game. For the uninitiated, he’s referencing the comment Anthony Edwards made about Jamal Murray before. After the Wolves eliminated the 2023 champs, Denver, in the semis, smack-talking extraordinaire, Antman made a dig at Kyrie. “I had Jamal in handcuffs.” 

Irving seemed to have taken that dig personally. He arguably had his best defensive performance against a team stacked with big men while Ant was shockingly sluggish through most of this series. Minnesota’s star duo, Ant and Karl-Anthony Towns, had 28 points each. They, however, couldn’t cover the 20-point deficit that Luka Doncic secured in the first quarter all by himself and made a definite case for a unanimous Magic Johnson Western Conference Final MVP Award.

Edwards had plenty of hot mic moments this series but didn’t live up to the kind of monstrous reputation he built in the post-season so far. Kyrie gave a definitive response to his trash talk on the court.

Perk was so pleased with Kyrie Irving‘s silencing act, that he pulled out the trash talk himself. One of his finest statements would be to the hosts themselves while the game was still underway. “Minnesota is guarding like a team that booked their cabana’s in Cancun before tipoff.” That’s an ouchie. Even though he posted a couple of times that Rudy Gobert, who had 9 points in the 26 minutes he played, was doing well.

Let’s not forget though, that Minnesota kept themselves alive in Game 4 and gave the hope that this will be a long series. By halftime most were taking off their rose-tinted glasses and claimed that the Wolves were playing like a team who were glad they didn’t suffer the indignity of being swept and didn’t need to try hard. Perkins too had emotions about how the Timberwolves played tonight.

Wolves leave Kendrick Perkins disappointed

Except for KAT and Ant, no other player in the Wolves squad scored in double figures. The Mavs had four of them and Doncic and Irving played nearly 40 minutes together. While the Mavs looked ready to end the series, the Wolves were “mangy dogs” per Perkins’ description.

Minnesota was a team that most pitched were Finals ready though they hadn’t even made it to the Conference Finals in 20 years prior to this series. Dallas has not been in the Finals since they won in 2011 and weren’t looking championship-ready at the start of the playoffs. The tables have not only turned, but Kyrie’s no.1 fan also said, “They got 10,000 lakes in Minnesota so they got plenty of places to go fishing,” about the home team.

Despite the trash talk, Kendrick Perkins commended Ant and the Wolves for an impressive season. But now he’s pitching for including Kyrie in that conversation, especially if he wins a second ring.