Anthony Edwards’ first playoff game against the Golden State Warriors did not go too well. The Wolves, with a home court advantage, had a horrible shooting night from the floor, and couldn’t take advantage of Steph Curry going off injured early in the first half. They did make a late push, but it was too late, and they ended up losing the first game 99-88. After the game, Charles Barkley had a few words for Ant-Man on Inside The NBA, and he made it clear what he thought of his performance.
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Edwards had a horrific outing last night, scoring only 1 point at the half, shooting an underwhelming 0-8 from the floor. The Wolves as a team only managed a meagre 31 points at the half, their lowest of the entire season.
Barkley made sure to praise coach Chris Finch for his post-game press conference, where he called out Edwards’ poor performance. Barkley made a point when addressing Edwards’ poor performance on the night, too. He reminded him that as the star, criticism starts and ends with him. The team around him may have had a poor game, but he’d be the first person criticized because he’s supposed to be their leader.
“You know when you’re a great player. First of all, you bought all this smoke. You said you wanted the smoke. I want the Warriors! And you got it. You had one point at half-time,” Chuck said. “When you’re the man, you get all the credit, but you get all the blame. That’s the way it works.”
“You said you wanted the smoke… and you had 1 point at half-time” ️
Chuck had thoughts about Ant’s performance in Game 1. pic.twitter.com/fNgsjYrfUr
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 7, 2025
The reference to “wanting the smoke” comes from a 2023 clip, where Edwards said he wanted to meet the Dubs in the postseason. He claimed it’d be an interesting matchup, largely because of the personalities on either side.
Last night, however, only one side of the personality showed out. The Wolves looked like a shadow of the team that trumped the Lakers in round one. They shot abysmally from the field, blowing wide open threes and layups. In fact, as a team, the Wolves only made 5 three-pointers to the Warriors’ 18.
They clearly have their work cut out for them in Game 2, but there may yet be a glimmer of hope. Steve Kerr stated that the Dubs might be missing Steph Curry for Game 2, and if that’s the case, the Wolves will have to do everything in their power to restore parity in the series before going to Oakland.
