Anthony Edwards Minnesota Timberwolves had another historic night during their ongoing playoff run against the Phoenix Suns. Thrashing the Arizona side, 126-109, the Wolves took a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Yet, ESPN’s very own, Kendrick Perkins isn’t finding the Timberwolves’ recent success surprising, ‘not even in the slightest‘.
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Big Perk, appearing on the set of NBA Today, claimed that the Minnesota Timberwolves are the team to beat, interestingly crowning them as the best team in this year’s playoffs, over even the reigning champion, Denver Nuggets.
The former NBA man’s compliments come on the back of yet another 30+ point performance from Anthony Edwards. In game 3, Edwards led all scorers with 36 points, while also recording 9 rebounds and 5 assists [per NBA.com]. However, the 22-year-old wasn’t without help, as Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns made their presence felt on the boards, racking up a very impressive total of 27 rebounds for the Minnesota side.
After the game, Perkins let the world know that the matchup between the two Western Conference teams was more or less over, while also hinting at the fact that Timberwolves star, Anthony Edwards, might have ascended past his favorite player, Kevin Durant. Giving the young Timberwolves star his flowers, the following is what he said on X [Formerly Twitter].
“Anthony Edwards ain’t asking or waiting for the torch to be passed. He walked into Kevin Durant’s house, snatched that mf off the table and walked out the front door.”
Ant-Man’s recent performance was the 7th time the Minnesota Star went off for more than 30 points in the post-season, an impressive statistic considering that Edwards has only played 15 playoff games in his young NBA career. On the flip side, Durant hasn’t quite looked the same during this year’s playoffs, managing to only score over 30 points on a single occasion.
Kendrick Perkins and the media seem to be riding the Timberwolves bandwagon all the way through. While teams like the Denver Nuggets might be superior, both on paper and in theory, Perkins seems to be enamored with the playstyle that the Timberwolves are offering.
Appearing on ESPN’s “NBA Today” show, Kendrick Perkins rained down praise on the Timberwolves side, claiming them to be the “best performing team” in this year’s playoffs,
” The rest of the league is watching this series and saying, ‘ damn, we don’t not want to face those guys’.
While Kendrick Perkins may be exaggerating a bit here, he isn’t wrong. The Minnesota Timberwolves have looked like a force to be reckoned with all year, especially now, in the postseason. They already seem to have swatted aside the Phoenix Suns, up 3-0 in their series [per NBA.com], and just one game away from round 2.
If the team continues on its current trajectory, and if the Denver Nuggets [who are also up 3-0 against the LA Lakers] do the same, they will meet in the second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs [per ESPN].
With this being a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’, does this Wolves’ side truly have what it takes to prove Kendrick Perkins right? Can they defeat the Denver Nuggets?
It’s hard to tell. But it would be a fool’s errand to count them out.
