Anthony Edwards had his best season yet come to an end on Wednesday night in ugly fashion. Edwards was stifled yet again by the excellent defense of the Oklahoma City Thunder with his Minnesota Timberwolves facing elimination in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, and the wheels came off early. Edwards shot 7-of-18 from the floor to total 19 points while the Wolves fell behind by over 30 points in the first half and never managed to recover.
Speaking to the media after the 124-94 defeat, Edwards made a passionate promise that could also serve as a warning shot across the bow to the rest of the league.
"I'm going to work my butt off this summer," Edwards vowed, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "Nobody's going to work harder than me this summer. I'll tell you that much."
Edwards, 23, set a new career high this past season in averaging 27.6 points per game and made a huge leap as a three-point shooter; the Wolves superstar was one of three players to average at least 10 shots beyond the arc per night and sank 39.5% of those tries. He has successfully established himself as one of the NBA's most dangerous scorers and proved yet again he can get it done in the postseason with a second consecutive Western Conference finals appearance.
Despite all that, the Thunder were able to effectively shut him down for most of the WCF. Clearly his game has more room to grow. He certainly sounds motivated to prove as much.
Coming up short last year in losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the same spot clearly inspired Edwards to take a leap this year. What will coming up short yet again do for him next season?
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Anthony Edwards Made Passionate Promise After Ugly Blowout Loss to End Season.
