For the first time in his career, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards won the Kobe Bryant All-Star Game MVP award after an impressive performance in the Intuit Dome on Sunday. Over the course of three round robin games, Edwards scored 32 total points and brought the energy to the conclusion of All-Star weekend that Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA has been craving for years.
Edwards led his USA Stars team to a massive win over the USA Stripes team, winning 47-21 off a modest eight points on 3-of-5 shooting that helped display a revitalized All-Star Game format that resulted in a massive win for the NBA as a whole. Players on both ends of the floor hustled and displayed that they actually wanted to try in a game that has long been touted as a waste of time due to lack of energy and effort in the last couple of seasons. Edwards echoed this in his postgame interview after winning MVP stating, “It means a lot” then adding, “ I love Minnesota, and I know Minnesota loves me. I said I wasn’t going to put on a show for them, but I gave them a show”.
Edwards will look to continue to put on a show for Timberwolves’ fans in the back half of the season as Minnesota is currently in sixth place, sitting eight games back from the first place and defending NBA Champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Coming into All-Star weekend, Edwards is averaging 29.3 points per game on 49.3% shooting and an efficient 40.2% from three. The ASG MVP will need to continue to be the engine of the Timberwolves if Minnesota wants to climb the ranks in a loaded Western Conference and gain momentum in hopes of making it back to the Western Conference Finals like they did just a season ago.
