Minnesota Timberwolves star guard Anthony Edwards will miss “multiple weeks” due to a left knee injury suffered Saturday night in his team’s 112-96 playoff win against the Denver Nuggets.
Per ESPN, Edwards was diagnosed with a bone bruise and hyperextension of the knee on Sunday. Testing did not reveal any ligament damage, and he is scheduled to begin rehab immediately.
The Timberwolves, the No. 6 seed, have a 3-1 lead over the No. 3 Nuggets. The best-of-seven series resumes Monday night in Denver.
Minnesota does not have an easy task closing out this series, however.
Donte DiVincenzo, Edwards’ backcourt mate, suffered a non-contact injury to his right leg 79 seconds into the game. ESPN reported Saturday night that DiVincenzo, who left the arena at halftime in a wheelchair, tore his right Achilles. That injury will put him out for several months.
In the absence of Edwards and DiVincenzo, Ayo Dosunmu came off the bench Saturday night to score 43 points with this line: 13-of-17 shooting, 5-for-5 from 3-point range and 12-for-12 from the foul line.
According to OptaSTATS, Dosunmu became the first player in NBA history to score at least 40 points, shoot at least 75% from the field, hit at least five 3-point attempts without a miss and convert at least 10 free-throw attempts without a miss.
“This is for Ant. This is for Donte,” Dosunmu told Timberwolves social media after the game. “I hope for a speedy recovery for them.”
After being acquired at the trade deadline from the Chicago Bulls, Dosunmu appeared in 24 regular-season games for Minnesota and averaged 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists. During this playoff series, he has delivered a team-high 22.8 points per game while shooting 64% from the field.
During the regular season, Edwards led the Timberwolves with 28.8 points per game and hit 39.9% of his shots from 3-point range over 61 games.
DiVincenzo started all 82 games and posted averages of 12.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
Timberwolves forward Julius Randle said postgame that Minnesota can withstand the loss of its starting backcourt.
“We’ve got more than enough talent in here to win,” Randle said. “We lost two guys who are big pieces to our team but we talked about it all year, you need depth in the playoffs to win.”
–Field Level Media
