Bradley Beal told Wolves they don't play hard enough. That changed in Game 1

Anthony Edwards delivered a game-high 33 points in a blowout Wolves victory.

Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal (3) drives to the basket past Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) in the first half during game one of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Target Center in Minneapolis on April 20, 2024. / Jesse Johnson / USA TODAY Sports

Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal got into a jawing session with Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves bench when the two teams met in a playoff preview in the final game of the regular season on Sunday at Target Center in Minneapolis. 

Beal and Edwards both picked up technical fouls during the sequence. After the game, which the Wolves lost 125-106 to lock them into the three seed, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch didn’t go into many details about what went down, saying simply that Beal “was barking at our bench.”

After scoring a game-high 33 points in a rematch Saturday afternoon in Game 1 of a Western Conference first-round series, a game the Wolves won 120-95, Edwards mentioned what Beal said towards the Wolves bench, and it turns out that may have provided some extra motivation.

“Beal said, he told our coach that he don’t think we play hard enough,” Edwards said after Saturday’s victory. “And he was right. And Finchy didn’t like that, and he came in the next day and was like, ‘You got guys on the other team telling me that y’all don’t play hard enough for me.’ 

“And he was totally right. We was just out there running around, letting them do what they want to do, man. That’s a great team and all three of those guys (Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker) they great players, man. It’s gonna be hard to beat these guys, we gotta bring it every night, it’s just one game. They gonna be ready to go the next time we play them.” 

Edwards said the week off before Saturday’s rematch was a week, where in reality, they had no days off. He said Finch was pushing him to work through some of the defensive looks he might see against the Suns, and Edwards felt like he was in the best shape of his life coming in. 

Edwards even started the fourth quarter after playing the entire third frame, and he said postgame he wasn’t even tired. They practiced hard, and played hard, and the results sure followed.

“Finchy ass was running me through all type of actions, double team, triple teams, quadruple teams,” Edwards said. “… I thank my coaches, man, to the best of my ability, I appreciate them and putting me in the right positions and not worry about if I’m tired or not because this week, man, they really pushed me, and I needed that.” 

The fact that Edwards wasn’t tired entering the fourth quarter is even more impressive considering what he did during the end of the third frame. Edwards scored 10 straight Timberwolves points, starting with a turnaround jumper and ending with back-to-back 3s while being guarded by Kevin Durant, Edwards’ favorite player. Nickeil Alexander-Walker capped the third-quarter run with a 3-pointer that put the Wolves up 20 points entering the fourth quarter.

“Sometimes you just got to step back because, in the moment, you’re like so locked in on so many things. But at one point in time, you’re just like, ‘What is going on?’ … It’s like, he’s just spectacular, he’s a great player,” Alexander-Walker said of Edwards. “Things that he does, he’s a special talent, and I know he wants to win. And so when you see him in those zones, that’s just Ant. And he’s a determined, confident guy. 

“And so I would just say, it’s pretty amazing to watch just the way he plays. And in moments like that, you see his confidence grow and a lot of guys would shy away from it, and he’s not one of them.”