The San Antonio Spurs went into Minnesota and blew out the Timberwolves in Game 6 of their Western Conference semifinals series to advance to the NBA’s final four. But all anyone could talk about after the game was the unusual decision by Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.
The Spurs boat raced the Wolves, winning by 30 points in a 139-109 drubbing. The Spurs led by nine after the first quarter and didn’t look back, winning each quarter as the game increasingly became out of reach.
With eight minutes left in the game and San Antonio leading by 33, Minnesota coach Chris Finch threw in the towel and pulled his starters, including Edwards. During the timeout, Edwards took the unique step of going to the Spurs bench to congratulate all the players and coaches on their presumed victory and advancing to the Western Conference Finals, where they will play the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In the moment, Stan Van Gundy said, “I would much rather see him wait until the end of the game,” while wondering what Udonis Haslem and his colleagues in the Amazon studio would say.
Haslem and company did not disappoint.
Everyone in the Amazon studio disagreed with Anthony Edwards and his decision to dap up the opposition during the game.
“I’ve watched the NBA and been a part for a long, long time. I’ve never seen this. A guy walking into the huddle with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter and dapping up the entire team. Too much for me. You can do that after the game and show plenty of respect. That was a little strange for me,” Dirk Nowitzki said.
“I’ve never seen that before. I do like what he said that he wants to give respect, but I think you wait and you have to take your licks at the end of the game like everybody else,” Blake Griffin responded in saying that he agreed with Nowitzki.
But Udonis Haslem was the most critical of Edwards’ actions and the message that it sent to his team.
“As great as Ant is as a basketball player, there’s still some growth from him as well. Because as a leader I would not have walked down there and shook their hand. I would not have walked down there and shook their hand with eight minutes left in the game. As a leader of my troops and my guys, I would not show that weakness,” Haslem said.
“The game is not over. I’ve got eight minutes left. I’ve still got smoke coming out of my ears because I’m so damn mad and we’re losing. Let me calm down for those eight minutes since I’m not in, and then after those eight minutes, I’ll go down there, and I’ll congratulate them and their coaching staff. But in the middle of the game? When I’ve got guys that have sat the bench and cheered me on? No. I’m going to sit there and cheer those guys on. I’m going to put that energy back into those guys, and then when the game is over, I’ll go over there and shake their hands.”
Anthony Edwards has been touted as the new face of the NBA, but he and the Timberwolves have failed to make the NBA Finals in his career thus far. In fairness to Edwards, one man’s show of weakness is another man’s show of respect and good sportsmanship. While it was unprecedented to see a star player go into the other team’s huddle to admit defeat before the final whistle, the fact remains that his team was down by 30 points and he was being subbed out.
The true judge of whether it was appropriate or not won’t be Udonis Haslem or Dirk Nowitzki or NBA Twitter; it will ultimately be Edwards’ Minnesota teammates.
About Matt Yoder