“I’ll be better.”
Ant going hard on his performance in the win vs. the Spurs 😤
Getty
The Minnesota Timberwolves are in a bind when it comes to Anthony Edwards' injury.
The Minnesota Timberwolves walked into Frost Bank Center on Monday night as a sixth seed facing the second-best team in the Western Conference. Victor Wembanyama was waiting for them, and he made them feel it immediately.
The 7-foot-4 center turned the paint into a problem from the opening minutes, swatting 12 shots for the game. It was a number that had not been reached in a playoff game since the league began tracking blocks as an official stat more than 50 years ago.
Minnesota won anyway.
The Wolves took Game 1 by a final score of 104-102, stealing home court from a Spurs team that had every reason to feel confident heading in. Anthony Edwards returned sooner than expected and immediately changed the complexion of the series.
The result was in the books. The Wolves had absorbed San Antonio’s final push, survived their own mistakes, and left the building with a road win that can tilt a series early.
It was a gutsy return. A road win. A series lead. But Edwards had a different postgame agenda.
“I made so many mistakes at the end of the game,” Edwards said after the final buzzer. “I’m disappointed in myself.”
He pointed specifically to surrendering offensive rebounds to Julian Champagnie late in the game. Playing through a knee injury, Edwards felt he had no excuse to miss the small details. The box-out. The positioning. The plays that decide close games long before anyone notices them.
He continued, “Yeah I’ll be better.”
That is the kind of mentality that separates Edwards from most.
“I’ll be better.”
Ant going hard on his performance in the win vs. the Spurs 😤
Edwards finished with 18 points in 25 minutes off the bench.
For much of the night, he had to feel out what his body would allow. He was not flying around the floor the way he usually does. He was reading, choosing, waiting.
Then the fourth quarter arrived.
In a short burst early in the period, Edwards gave Minnesota the scoring and creation it had been missing, turning jumpers and one key setup for Julius Randle into the stretch that flipped the game. Minnesota’s balance mattered just as much as Edwards’ burst. Six Wolves scored in double figures, with Randle giving them a 21-point, 10-rebound anchor and Terrence Shannon Jr. adding valuable minutes in the starting group.
Wembanyama made all of it difficult.
He finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds alongside his historic block total, anchoring San Antonio’s interior in a way that forced the Wolves to manufacture looks rather than create them cleanly. The Spurs had chances, but their offense never found enough rhythm around Wembanyama’s defense. Stephon Castle picked up his sixth foul in the fourth quarter, taking another creator off the floor when San Antonio needed one most.
Champagnie had an open look at the buzzer for the win. The shot rimmed out. The Wolves held on.
GettySAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – MAY 04: Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves drives around Stephon Castle #5 of the San Antonio Spurs during the second half of a game in Game One of the Second Round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs at Frost Bank Center on May 04, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
The self-criticism was only part of what Edwards had to say.
When the conversation turned to the team, his framing shifted. He described a group with no agenda beyond the result, players willing to set aside individual nights in service of the win.
“We just want to win ballgames. That’s all we want to do, as a group. No matter whose night it is, we don’t care, we want to embrace each other,” Edwards said.
The Wolves have genuine belief in each other, and that cohesion showed on a night when Minnesota was without both Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu.
Minnesota found enough.
GettySAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – MAY 04: Terrence Shannon Jr. #1 and Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves look on during the second half of a game against the San Antonio Spurs in Game One of the Second Round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs at Frost Bank Center on May 04, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
Edwards held himself accountable on a night when most players would have taken the win and moved on. He came back early from a knee injury, delivered a fourth quarter that changed the game, and walked out of San Antonio with a result that mattered.
Then he talked about what he got wrong.
That is not a player coasting on what he can still do through an injury. That is a player who knows exactly what his best looks like and refuses to pretend that anything short of it is acceptable.
The knee will get better. The standard will not change.
Game 2 is Wednesday. Edwards will be ready.
Keith Watkins Keith Watkins is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers. He previously wrote for FanSided, NBA Analysis Network, and Last Word On Sports. Keith is based in Bangkok, Thailand. More about Keith Watkins
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