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Anthony Edwards' Decision After Game 1 Blowout vs. Thunder Is Awfully Telling

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Paolo Songco | Last updated May 22, 2025 9:17 PM ET

Anthony Edwards didn't even wait for the final buzzer in the Minnesota Timberwolves' Game 1 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.

The Thunder utterly dominated the Wolves in their series opener, 114-88, and Edwards decided to leave the court and head to the locker room with seconds still remaining in the fourth quarter.

Edwards knew at that point that the game had been lost. It was also abundantly clear to the three-time All-Star what he had to do for their next game.

Edwards did not take the loss lightly at all. In fact, according to ESPN's NBA insider Marc J. Spears, the 23-year-old stayed up late to watch the film from their Game 1 loss.

"Anthony Edwards typically has played a little better in the second game than he has in each of the previous two series against the Lakers and the Warriors, and people close to him say they expect him to do that tonight," Spears reported.

"Actually, after they lost in Game 1, he and assistant coach Chris Hines at a nearby hotel watched game film to 3 a.m. So he's definitely more probably mentally prepared for this next game."

Spears says Ant was up til 3am watching game film from the previous game with one of the assistants pic.twitter.com/8q49Wqzp7e
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) May 22, 2025

Instead of getting a good night's rest after a tough game, Edwards decided to study the film to try to see what went wrong. This speaks volumes about how dedicated this young man is to his craft and how much he wants to correct the mistakes he and his teammates made in their Game 1 shellacking.

Game 2 in Oklahoma City is on Thursday night, and it will now be determined if Edwards' hard work will pay off. The Timberwolves aren't exactly in a must-win situation, but they certainly would prefer to head to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4 with this series tied at 1-1.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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