Wolves' late-game offense can't turn into 'hero shot after hero shot'

Anthony Edwards missed six shots and Minnesota didn't score in the final 4:47 of Sunday night's loss to the Warriors.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) drives to the basket against Golden State Warriors guard Moses Moody in the first quarter at Chase Center in San Francisco on Dec. 8, 2024. / David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Anthony Edwards hit a go-ahead 3-pointer, giving the Minnesota Timberwolves a 106-105 lead, with 4 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in Sunday night's game against the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

But then the ball got sticky. The Wolves attempted nine shots — Rudy Gobert was also fouled and missed a pair of free throws — in the final 4:47, and Edwards took six of them — three 3-pointers and three from inside the arc. All of those shots failed to drop, and Minnesota didn't score again in the late-game minutes before falling 114-106 to the Warriors.

Edwards is always going to be Minnesota's go-to option in the late-game minutes. He's the team's best player and leader, and at that point Sunday night, he was also the team's hot hand. After drilling the go-ahead 3, Edwards was a brilliant 10 for 13 from the field. But he can't sacrifice good ball movement by holding on to the basketball and chucking up ill-advised shots. Edwards' efficiency up to that point was the product of him finding shots within the flow of the offense.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted postgame there were "guys open all over the floor" late for Edwards to find.

"We lost our composure down the stretch. Just hero shot after hero shot," Finch told reporters postgame. "... Those are shots that are really hard to make over and over, but when we did move the ball, we got good looks."

That was the case leading up to the last 4:47 when the Wolves eliminated an 11-point deficit. Nickeil Alexander-Walker stopped a 9-0 Warriors run with a layup. Julius Randle and Edwards found him on back-to-back possessions for 3s. Edwards also assisted on Alexander-Walker's midrange jumper that cut the deficit to two and set the stage for the go-ahead 3. But all the good and efficient offense during that stretch went out the window in the scoreless final minutes.

It was a far cry from how Edwards and the Wolves finished Friday night's win over the Warriors. While Edwards was responsible for several big shots that helped Minnesota turn a three-point edge into a sizable 18-point advantage, he also never stopped looking for his teammates. Edwards had four assists during that stretch, including two lobs to Gobert.

Gobert told reporters after that game it felt like Christmas. There were no presents to open Sunday night.

"It wasn't Christmas today," Gobert quipped to reporters after Sunday night's loss. "It was Halloween."

Rudy Gobert was really complementary of Anthony Edwards' decision-making when he got doubled at the end of the last game. He said it "felt like christmas".

After today's game Gobert joked, "it wasn't christmas today". https://t.co/lnrnsafbkm pic.twitter.com/mbZW7kQdvM

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) December 9, 2024

The late-game struggles weren't the only problems in Sunday night's game. Finch noted postgame that there were two points where he felt the Wolves lost the game: the final minutes, of course, and also when they let the Warriors run up and down the court in transition during the third quarter. The positive for the Timberwolves is the issues are all fixable.

And Edwards isn't one to shy away from taking responsibility. While he declined to talk to reporters postgame, citing fines he's been receiving for cursing in postgame interviews, according to the Star Tribune's Chris Hine, Edwards yelled loud enough for reporters to hear during Randle's postgame interview that he just needs to "play better."

Anthony Edwards declined to talk tonight, citing fines he's received form cursing in postgame interviews, but he did talk loud enough for the recorders/cameras to pick it up while Julius Randle spoke. Said, among other things that it was "terrible by me" tonight.

— Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) December 9, 2024

"I gotta find my teammates," he said.