Star guard Anthony Edwards will look for more opportunities to score when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night.
Edwards has been frustrated by double teams, which has caused his point totals to drop. He’s averaged just 16.3 points over the last three games. Since the beginning of last month, Edwards has been held to 20 points or less in eight contests.
Edwards was limited to 15 points and missed 11 of 16 field-goal attempts in a 118-115 loss to Boston on Thursday.
“They just trapping me, man,” he said. “I don’t know what to do. I’m not gonna lie.”
Edwards, 23, is still averaging 24.5 points per game this season after averaging a career high 25.9 points last season. With the trade of Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota to New York, the defensive tactics to keep Edwards in check have intensified.
“It’s definitely frustrating to see these guys cooking us and I can’t cook them,” Edwards said. “Whatever their adjustments are. They’re doing a good job, 100 percent, of keeping me from doing what I want to do out there.”
Julius Randle, Minnesota’s second-leading scorer at 20.2 points a game, understands what Edwards is going through.
“He’s doing a really good job. It’s tough. I know it’s frustrating. But that’s just the player that he is,” Randle said. “He’s that special that nobody is going to guard him straight up. We’ve got to continue to try to help him out.”
Minnesota has lost its last two games, albeit to two of the league’s elite teams in the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Celtics. Those losses followed the Timberwolves’ three-game winning streak.
This will be the first of two games between the Timberwolves and Pistons. The rematch will take place in Minneapolis on March 30.
The Pistons will play the end of a back-to-back set after defeating Charlotte 98-94 on Friday.
It was Detroit’s first game since starting guard Jaden Ivey suffered a broken left fibula during a victory over Orlando on Wednesday night. Wendell Moore Jr. started in his place and went scoreless in 15 minutes.
“I told the guys (Friday) that is a spot that is going to be fluid for us,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “It will be different for us depending on matchups or maybe based on groups who are playing well together. We want to use this opportunity to get a look at different things. Just to throw it out there, one time doesn’t give us enough evidence of what it’s going to look like going forward.”
The Pistons, who trailed by 13 at halftime, have won five of their last six games. They managed to grind out the win without Ivey’s playmaking and scoring, getting 24 points from Tobias Harris.
“They’re definitely hurting for him and feel for him, but they also understand it’s about the team as a collective,” Bickerstaff said. “Everyone has to be ready to go out there and put their best foot forward. We don’t expect one person to fill the gap for JI. It’s going to [be on] everybody to do a little bit more of what they do and play to their strength.
“They know JI would want them to go out there and compete their tail off and try to win as many games as possible.”
–Field Level Media
