Anthony Edwards &#8216;disappointed&#8217; after going to &#8216;war&#8217; with Spurs and Victor Wembanyama in Game 1

May 5, 2026 - 09:45

The Minnesota Timberwolves stole Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs with a 104-102 win.

But Anthony Edwards is not satisfied.

Edwards stunned the NBA when he made his return for Game 1 despite a knee injury

The Timberwolves star posted 18 points, three rebounds, three assists and a block in a restricted 25 minutes off the bench as he made his return to the court just nine days after suffering a bone bruise from badly hyperextending his left knee.

Despite many predicting that he wouldn’t be ready to feature for Minnesota until Game 3, Edwards defied the odds and played well, yet the 24-year-old was left disappointed by his own performance, especially in the final two minutes of the contest.

“Aw, man! I made so many mistakes at the end of the game, I’m disappointed in myself,” Edwards said on the court after the game.

“For me, man, 75% of the game is my mind. My mind’s got to be where it needs to be, and in the last two minutes of the game, it wasn’t. I gave up two offensive rebounds, turned the ball over… but yeah, I’ll be better.”

“I can’t give up two offensive rebounds to Champagnie,” he added. “I may not be as athletic as I usually am, but I’ve got to be able to box out and make those small plays to win big-time games.”

His harsh self-assessment stuck with him through to the postgame press conferences, where he reiterated that his mental mistakes toward the end of the game were unacceptable by his own standards.

“It was just game plan mistakes for me. Mental mistakes. We had some timeouts; I felt like I could have used one,” Edwards said.

“I’m not really that good at taking the ball out of bounds, as I know. And I had two missed box-outs with a minute left on No. 30, Champagnie. So they were just game plan mistakes that won’t happen again.”

Speaking about playing in a febrile atmosphere in San Antonio, Ant-Man added: “I mean, everybody in the arena is against us.

“That’s the best thing about it. You start on the road, everybody got on pink, blue, whatever color shirts there is, chanting ‘Go Spurs Go,’ doing all that and I’m with Minnesota. I got Minnesota’s back at all times. I’m out there with my brothers and we’re going to war.”

Teammates stunned by Edwards’ return

Stealing Game 1 on the road from a 62-win Spurs team is no small achievement.

Minnesota entered the series as heavy underdogs against the team fronted by unanimous 2026 Defensive Player of the Year, Victor Wembanyama.

Edwards was frustrated with his performance at the end of the game, despite the W

Wembanyama's 12 blocks was not enough to help the Spurs to a win — Wembanyama’s 12 blocks was not enough to help the Spurs to a win

The Timberwolves’ odds were slashed even farther when Edwards suffered his injury in Game 4 of the first-round series against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets – his teammates closed out a series win in six games.

But after a week in which he spent the majority of it doing underwater training and band work to loosen the inflammed knee, Ant-Man stunned his teammates by being able to return for Game 1.

“Nobody expected him to play,” veteran guard Mike Conley said. “I called him my hero before the game. You look up to somebody for what he just put himself through the last week.”

Similarly, Julius Randle said, “I’m on record calling him a Wolverine.

“I remember last year being here at the beginning of the year and he’d take a nasty fall or a hit, we’d have to call timeout and [I’d think], ‘Damn, he might be hurt for real.’ Then he just gets up.”

Edwards later noted that he knows his presence on the court is beneficial to his teammates, adding: “I know for a fact that me being out there calms everybody down.”

It’s a good job he did calm them down, as Wembanyama recorded an 11 point, 15 rebound and NBA playoff record 12 block triple-double, and his team still came out on the losing side.

Despite this, the Timberwolves just kept attacking the ball at the rim.

“You just got to act like he’s not there,” Wolves small forward Jaden McDaniels said of Wembanyama. “He’s going to get blocks. He’s the tallest person in the world. Just keep consistently attacking. Sometimes, he’s not going to be there.”

The Spurs will host the Wolves next on Wednesday night, with Edwards and co hoping to snatch a second game on the road before the series returns back to the Target Center on Friday.

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