LOS ANGELES — As the Minnesota Timberwolves look to close out the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series Wednesday night, coach Chris Finch said his team has been playing with added motivation, led by star guard Anthony Edwards.
After the Timberwolves’ Game 1 win, Edwards hinted at that motivation.
“The Lakers supposed to win. That’s just how it’s supposed to go,” he said. “We’re not supposed to be here.”
Three games later, the sixth-seeded Timberwolves lead the series 3-1, following 43 points from a trash-talking, physical Edwards in a 116-113 Game 4 win. Finch said Edwards’ performance in this series — and many of his best moments — don’t surprise him much anymore.
“I’ve been with him long enough to know that doubting him is not a really good strategy,” Finch said Tuesday. “He always wants to prove you wrong, and so sometimes he’ll figure things out faster than you think he will. He has a great sense of the moment.”
The third-seeded Lakers, led by stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James, had been the favorites in this series and a team expected to contend for a championship.
“We knew what everyone was saying, and our team is always the best when they play with a chip on their shoulder,” Finch said. “And so we just had to establish that chip on our shoulder.”
Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley concurred.
“Our motivation has been from people doubting us outside of our team,” he said. “Like Ant said, we weren’t picked to win this thing. We weren’t picked to do anything in the postseason. So when we line up there tomorrow, that’s what we thinking about.”
Conley also lauded Edwards’ evolution as a leader this season. Two days after the Timberwolves ended the regular season with a win against the Utah Jazz, Conley said the 23-year-old Edwards stopped their practice and began to urge them to play with more effort and purpose if they wanted to beat the Lakers.
“Having that kind of leadership and that kind of awareness to say those types of things at his age is very important,” Conley said. “I think it kind of gave us a good springboard into the postseason.”
Source: espn.com