Minnesota Timberwolves Proving They're so Much More Than Just Anthony Edwards

DENVER — After grinding out a 98-90 win over the reigning champion Denver Nuggets, Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves are headed to the Western Conference Finals.

And it took a lot more than Edwards' typical heroics to get there.

With 10:50 to go in the third quarter of Game 7 of their second-round series, Jamal Murray drilled a three to push Denver's lead to 58-38. At that point, the Nuggets had a 96.8 percent win probability.

It crept a little higher when Karl-Anthony Towns missed a shot on Minnesota's next possession, but that didn't matter in the end.

The Timberwolves' ferocious defense drove the action the rest of the way. It held the Nuggets to 32 points over that final 22:50 of Denver's season. The defense seemed to fuel the attack on the other end. And it held every Nugget not named Nikola Jokić or Jamal Murray to a total of 21 points on 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) shooting.

And while Edwards is certainly a key cog in the defense, that unit dominates because all five players are on the same page. Cohesion doesn't begin to describe it. With Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaden McDaniels, the starting five is huge, but it's also mobile.

During Game 7, and really throughout much of the series, the kickout passes from Jokić to shooters that typically lead to three points were stymied. On more than one occasion, an outlet like Murray, Michael Porter Jr. or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope would seem wide open while the pass was in the air. By the time it got there, a Timberwolf was right in the shooter's face.

That didn't just lead to missed shots, it also forced some over-dribbling from MPJ and KCP. It had Denver's typically poised offense looking completely scrambled.

And it was that resistance that gave Edwards' game time to wake up.

Edwards has drawn comparisons to Michael Jordan this postseason, and for good reason. Prior to Game 7, he'd averaged 30.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 3.1 threes and 1.7 steals. His career playoff numbers were eerily similar to Jordan's through the same age. He even moves like him.

And the killer instinct jumps off the screen, too. It did when he yelled in Kevin Durant's face in the first round. It did when he had 31 second-half points in the closeout game against the Phoenix Suns. It did when he punctuated that win with a leaning, Jordan-esque dunk.

When he opened the series against Denver with 43 points and a win, the comparison was unavoidable again.

But on Sunday, by the time that Denver lead had ballooned to 20 points, Edwards had just four points on 1-of-7 shooting. He was minus-19.

He and the Wolves weren't out of the game, though. And that's because they're far more than just their ascendant superstar.

Towns and McDaniels both had 23 points on Sunday. Gobert had 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Mike Conley had 10 points and hit a backbreaking, side-stepping three during Minnesota's comeback.

The supporting cast did what it had to do to keep the Wolves just close enough through those first two quarters. Edwards was always going to warm up at some point. And though he finished 6-of-24 from the field (Kobe Bryant's exact shooting line in the championship-clinching Game 7 against the Boston Celtics in 2010), he made some loud buckets during the comeback.

On the final possession of the third quarter, he drilled a stepback three over the outstretched arm of Aaron Gordon that cut the lead to one. He nailed a three that put Minnesota up 10 with just over three minutes to play that pretty much ended the game.

He was good when he needed to be. His teammates were when he wasn't.

And we shouldn't be surprised.

Gobert is a three-time All-Star and four-time Defensive Player of the Year. KAT has made four All-Star teams. Conley's made one. And McDaniels has multiple All-Defensive nods in his future.

This team is huge, athletic and well-balanced. After the game, Jokić told reporters he thought Minnesota was "built to beat us." And he's probably right. The architect, Tim Connelly, also built the bulk of this Nuggets roster prior to joining the Wolves in 2022.

And being built to beat Denver means Minnesota is also built to win it all.

There are still three other teams left standing. Getting through Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks is far from a foregone conclusion. The Boston Celtics were a juggernaut all regular season.

But this team, it's MJ-like leading scorer and its bastion-like defense is capable of getting eight more wins.