The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 104-97 on Tuesday night.
Anthony Edwards dropped 32 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals against the worst team in the association.
Edwards is averaging 40.6 points per game over his last three games, which is a massive improvement from the rest of the season.
Despite his performances, the Timberwolves as a unit have been the most inconsistent team in the NBA in the 2024-25 season.
What Happened?
Minnesota was the third seed in the Western Conference last season. They ended up making the Western Conference Finals as well, but lost in five games to the Dallas Mavericks. Although they lost, their team looked like a championship contender.
In the offseason, they traded Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. At the time, it seemed like a fair trade for both parties.
Thus far, the Knicks are the clear winner of the blockbuster trade. The Wolves are definitely missing the likes of Towns, as the chemistry just doesn’t seem the same.
KAT is having a career year in New York. He’s averaging 25.3 points, 14.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists. Minnesota is missing that kind of production, because Julius Randle isn’t matching that same energy or workload.
DiVincenzo has been disappointing as well, only shooting 38.6% from the field when he was expected to be a top shooter for the Wolves.
Anthony Edwards Should Be Further Along
Although Edwards has erupted in the last three games, his season should be even better. He’s averaging 25.8 points per game versus 25.9 points per game last season.
The fifth year phenom should be ascending even greater, but maybe the new team is the reason why he hasn’t performed at a higher level.
NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley mentioned that Edwards has regressed during the 2024-25 season.
“I actually think Anthony Edwards in my opinion has regressed,” Barkley said. “Because he’s become an outside shooter. He’s not aggressive like he was last year.”
Edwards seemed to respond to the hall of famer during Monday night’s game versus the Clippers.
“They said I fell off,” trumpeted the 23-year-old toward the crowd during Monday night’s game against the Clippers. “Don’t worry about me,” he said multiple times.
Hopefully he can keep up this dominant play and propel the Timberwolves to the success that they have been chasing.
The Inconsistency
The fact that the Timberwolves are 5-5 over their last ten games shows how average they’ve been all season.
One truly does not know which Minnesota team will show up on a nightly basis. They have beaten great teams, and have lost to weak teams.
The T-Wolves are eighth in the Western Conference right now, and they need to keep climbing to really secure a playoff berth.
Chemistry may still be an issue for them, and if it is, they need to figure it out quickly.
