MINNEAPOLIS — Anthony Edwards drained a 3-pointer from the wing in a dominant third quarter for the Minnesota Timberwolves, nodding his head as he barked and stared at Kevin Durant on the retreat up the court.
Durant could only grin.
The young star had gotten the best of the all-time great with 10 points in a five-possession spurt as the Timberwolves closed the period on a 19-4 run for a 20-point lead on the way to a 120-95 victory over the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Saturday.
Edwards had 18 points in that egregious third quarter. He finished with 33 points — and a lifelong memory. After making a turnaround fadeaway and another mid-range step-back, Edwards drained two 3-pointers in that stretch. He tossed a little bit of good-natured trash talk toward Durant in the process.
“That’s my favorite player of all time, so that was probably one of the best feelings ever in my whole life, for sure,” Edwards said.
Durant, the 35-year-old, 14-time All-Star with two championship rings, countless awards and what would appear a spot one day in the Hall of Fame, was every bit as impactful for the Suns with 31 points on 11-for-17 shooting.
“He made like four or five straight buckets like it was nothing. And I became a fan at one point,” Edwards said. “There was nothing we could do.”
The Suns felt the same way about the 22-year-old Edwards, who will play for Team USA this summer at the Paris Olympics and is fast becoming one of the faces of the league himself.
“He got his rhythm. He was able to hit a few,” Durant said. “He's seen a couple tough ones go in. Now he's got confidence. He's always had confidence as a player.”
Durant was hardly offended by the audaciousness.
“That's just hoops. You get hot, you make shots, you make tough shots, you're going to feel excited about yourself, so it's on me to keep coming back and show him a tough look," Durant said. “He made some tough ones. You've just got to live with it and move on to the next game.”
Watch more coverage of Minnesota sports:
Watch the latest reports from the KARE 11 sports team in our YouTube playlist:
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.