NEW YORK — It was only four games, and a little over a week, between the last time Anthony Edwards was in uniform for the Minnesota Timberwolves and his return against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
But after missing only three games each of the previous three seasons, Edwards was thrilled to get over the hamstring strain that had sidelined him and return to action for Minnesota in what became a 137-114 loss at Madison Square Garden.
“It felt like forever,” Edwards said after finishing with 15 points and 5 assists but shooting just 5-for-13 from the field in 29 minutes for Minnesota (4-4). “I was happy to be out there, for sure.”
That was one of the few things for the Timberwolves to be happy about on a night when, after leading at halftime, they allowed a staggering 83 points in the second half, giving up at least 40 points in both the third and fourth quarters as the Knicks outscored them by 27 to turn what had been a competitive game into a laugher.
“[Mitchell] Robinson had more offensive rebounds than anyone on our team had rebounds,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said, before amending his statement to say Robinson had as many offensive rebounds as Rudy Gobert had total rebounds (nine). “We got absolutely beat up on the glass, 31 second-chance points. … They beat us to every loose ball.”
“Boxing out would be a good place to start,” Finch continued, when asked what issues had created the rebounding margin.
New York’s 12 offensive rebounds, combined with 17 Minnesota turnovers, created 19 extra shots for the Knicks (5-3), who are a perfect 5-0 at Madison Square Garden this season.
“We’re never going to win like that,” Edwards said.
The one win of the night for Minnesota was getting Edwards back on the court.
After initially being expected to miss a couple of weeks, Edwards was upgraded to questionable Tuesday, then participated fully in the team’s morning shootaround at MSG and did another normal workout prior to the game — complete with a lengthy half-court shooting competition with former NBA player, and now Wolves coach, James White.
So, by the time Finch met with the media before the game, the only question was about how much Edwards would be able to play, rather than whether he’d give it a go in his one visit to “The World’s Most Famous Arena” this season.
Finch said there wasn’t a plan to limit Edwards’ minutes. However, the coach put some gentle restrictions on Edwards’ involvement — he played 29 minutes rather than his season average of 35 or so, and played in shorter stints than he normally does.
“It was a rough game back,” Finch said. “It’s always going to be a tough game when you’ve been out. I thought he did the best he could. It’s always going to be a tough one. It’s a tough team to play.”
For his part, though, Edwards was all smiles afterward and said repeatedly that he felt great coming out of his first game action in over 10 days.
It was the first time in his career that he’d had any sort of hamstring injury, and he admitted it was on his mind a little to make sure he didn’t do anything to aggravate it.
“A little bit,” Edwards said, when asked whether the hamstring injury felt different than other injuries he had dealt with in the past, “because you don’t want to move too fast, go out there and try to do too much.
“But I felt great tonight. I was ready to ball out tonight. Basketball gods had other intentions.”