3 Ways Anthony Edwards Can Be Better After Game 1 Loss to Dallas Mavericks

MINNEAPOLIS — Despite making a conference finals in 2022, the Dallas Mavericks won their first Game 1 under Jason Kidd in Wednesday’s third-round matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And they picked up that victory on the road, in front of a raucous Minnesota crowd and against a rising superstar in Anthony Edwards who looked borderline unstoppable in the first two rounds.

After putting up 28.9 points, 5.9 assists and 3.0 threes against the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets, Dallas limited Ant to 19 points on 6-of-16 shooting. And he was on the wrong side of the plus-minus column.

Edwards also did some good things. He had 11 boards, and his playmaking led to eight assists and plenty of pressure on the Mavs’ defense. But if the Wolves are going to bounce back, he’ll have to be better, particularly as a scorer.

As this series moves to Game 2, here are three ways he can improve.

As soon as Minnesota’s Game 7 victory over the Denver Nuggets wrapped, Edwards proclaimed his desire to guard Kyrie Irving.

And while that responsibility unsurprisingly went to multiple Timberwolves (including Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker), Edwards’ opportunities didn’t go great.

Irving scored on him three times, two of which came immediately after straight-up blow-bys. Ant’s closeouts were undisciplined against Kyrie, but that wasn’t the only way he lost him.

Early in the third quarter, as P.J. Washington drove the paint, Edwards took his eyes completely off Kyrie and stunted toward the three-point line, giving his man an easy catch and driving lane for an assist.

Luka Dončić did the bulk of his damage on other Timberwolves, but he had his way with Edwards a few times, too.

And though Edwards claimed to have put Jamal Murray in “handcuffs” in Game 7 of their second-round series, Murray had a game-high 35 points in that contest.

On balance, there’s no doubt Edwards has been a plus defender. He just wrapped his third straight season with a positive defensive estimated plus-minus. And coming into Wednesday’s Game 1, Minnesota had allowed fewer points per 100 possessions with him on the floor this postseason.

But he’s still prone to lapses, both when closing out to high-end creators and when he occasionally gets caught ball-watching.

Against a backcourt with as much offensive talent as Dallas, those lapses have to be less frequent. And given his offensive workload, he might have to be OK with teammates taking on the more challenging assignments more often.

A few possessions with Edwards “hiding” on off-ball players like Derrick Jones Jr. or P.J. Washington (assuming he can maintain focus as an off-ball defender) could do his offensive game some good.

Edwards shot 5-of-12 from deep. That’s good. That’s a 41.7 percent clip that beats this postseason’s league average and and his own regular-season career mark of 35.3.

But those 12 three-point attempts also accounted for 75 percent of his total shots. And he only had two shots the entire night in or around the restricted area (he missed both).

Add to that the fact that he only took two free throws, and it’s abundantly clear that Edwards has to do more damage inside the three-point line.

With Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II, Dallas’ rim protection is significantly more imposing than Denver’s, but it’s certainly not invincible.

And no one else on that roster can put as much pressure on those two, and really the Mavs’ entire defense, as Edwards.

Even five of his eight assists were thrown from nowhere near the paint. Three came out of drives that were at least headed that direction, but he didn’t get all the way there on those, either.

Discretion is often the better part of valor, but Edwards has to drive the action closer to the basket going forward. As he does, Dallas’ defense will be more prone to collapse inside, which should open up the perimeter for Edwards and his teammates.

The subheading here may sound a bit like the last one, but this is a different criticism.

There’s not necessarily anything wrong with letting the game come to you. And totaling eight assists is admirable. This was only a three-point loss, and had Edwards totaled this same line, he’d likely be getting praised for his gutsy near-triple-double.

But there were stretches of this contest that demanded the Ant who’s gotten to 40 points in three separate playoff games this season.

Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid had it going for stretches, but Minnesota also suffered some offensive lulls that looked like the team that finished the regular season at 16th on that end.

This postseason, Edwards has drawn comparisons to Michael Jordan. Pundits and fans alike are talking about him being the next face of the league. If he’s going to live up to that hype (and he can), those are the moments when he has to break through the malaise and dominate.

He took 16 shots tonight. That’s one more than McDaniels and four fewer than Karl-Anthony Towns (who was 6-of-20).

During the playoffs, Minnesota is now 5-1 when Edwards gets to at least 20 attempts and 3-3 when he doesn’t.

For the rest of this series, Ant’s going to have to be more aggressive as a scorer.