The Oklahoma City Thunder took a stranglehold in their Western Conference Finals matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves thanks to a clutch Game 4 win on the road. And while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander flashed his MVP credentials with a 40 point game, serious questions are being asked of Anthony Edwards for what was mostly a no-show.
Edwards favored deferring to his teammates throughout the contest as OKC keyed in on him defensively. And while his teammates did produce, scoring 126 points and shooting 51% from the field, the Timberwolves superstar scored just 15 points on 5-13 from the field.
After the game, Anthony Edwards was asked about his struggles, but deflected the question saying he didn’t shoot the ball enough to truly struggle and that he was more or less taking what the defense gave him. That clearly wasn’t enough of an explanation for Stephen A. Smith on Tuesday morning’s episode of First Take.
Smith challenged Edwards by asking him if he was truly a superstar and said that his nonchalant reaction in the locker room was “inexcusable” for a player of his stature.
“Here’s my deal, are you the superstar player you’ve proclaimed to be or not,” Smith asked. “The fact of the matter is Ant Man is special, we all know this. And you saw how special Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was. That individual pride is what I was looking for. I don’t want to hear something like, ‘I made the right play.'”
“One would think you would embrace the level of aggression that’s needed in order to do all that you can do to ensure that your team does not lose. That’s what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did. They got blitzed by over 40 in Game 3. What does Shai do? Shai, the reigning league MVP, a man you watched hoist the MVP trophy just a few days ago, goes out there on your home turf and drops 40, 10, and 9. I’m going to repeat that again. 40, 10, and 9. And your response is, ‘well you know what, I don’t think I struggled, I made the right play” when it was a relatively pedestrian offensive performance for you. That’s inexcusable as far as I’m concerned. Ant Man is so much better than that,” Smith added.
It is ironic to see Edwards get criticized by Stephen A. Smith for trying to do the right team thing throughout the night and not playing hero ball. Because it sounds an awful lot like the same criticisms Skip Bayless would use for LeBron James for decades. As Kendrick Perkins pointed out prior to Stephen A. Smith on Get Up, it’s hard to be too critical of Edwards and his play because the Timberwolves did end up scoring 126 points on the night. But SGA and the Thunder were just that little bit better on the offensive end.
However, 15 points in a pivotal Game 4 on your home floor is definitely not what the NBA talking heads are looking for when it comes to someone who is the leader in the clubhouse for the “next face of the NBA” conversation. If anything, that is now being used against Anthony Edwards as the question of whether it’s too early to crown him as the next big thing is percolating.