The Golden State Warriors reminded everyone why you can never count them out - not when Stephen Curry is still lacing them up. On Sunday, they didn’t just beat the Minnesota Timberwolves - they handled them.
It wasn’t a flashy statement win, but it was the kind of bounce-back performance Golden State needed after dropping two straight. The Warriors took care of business, plain and simple.
But while the scoreboard told one story, Anthony Edwards was writing another. The Timberwolves star showed up ready to compete, even if most of his teammates didn’t.
Edwards dropped 32 points on an efficient 13-of-20 shooting night, slicing through Golden State’s defense with the kind of explosiveness that’s become his trademark. He was locked in.
The rest of the Wolves? Not so much.
After the game, Edwards didn’t sugarcoat it. He called out the team’s lack of energy and effort - and he included himself in that. Tired legs or not, he made it clear that the Timberwolves didn’t bring the necessary fight.
“We’re supposed to come out here and play hard,” Edwards said postgame. “I don’t think we can make an excuse because we’re tired. Everybody tired, everybody ready to go to the break.”
That break - the All-Star break - is just around the corner, set for February 13-15. And while it’s understandable that players are feeling the grind of the season, Edwards isn’t interested in coasting into the pause. He wants the Timberwolves to stay locked in, to match the intensity of teams like the Warriors, who showed up ready to compete.
“We’re just getting outplayed on the effort part. So we gotta bring it on that side, for sure,” he added.
It’s a telling moment for a young leader like Edwards. He’s not just putting up numbers - he’s holding his team accountable.
That’s what stars do. And in a game where the Timberwolves were flat across the board, his voice carried weight.
The backdrop to all of this, though, stretches beyond the hardwood. The city of Minneapolis is in the middle of a deeply emotional and difficult moment following the ICE shooting of American citizen Alex Pretti.
The incident has sparked widespread outrage, protests, and a collective sense of grief across the state and beyond. It’s also the reason Sunday’s game was rescheduled - it was originally set for earlier in the week, on the day of the shooting.
In that context, it’s hard to treat this game like any other. The result matters, sure - it always does in a tight Western Conference race - but it also feels secondary to everything else happening in the world around these players. And while most of the league has stayed relatively quiet on the situation, the emotional weight of it lingers.
Still, the season rolls on. And for Minnesota, Sunday’s loss was more than just a mark in the “L” column.
It was a gut check. Edwards knows it.
Now the question is whether the rest of the Wolves will respond with the same urgency their star is demanding.