Even without James Harden active, the Philadelphia 76ers had little trouble defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.
Still, however, Philadelphia head coach Doc Rivers jokingly asked for some help from Minnesota star Anthony Edwards. During a break in the action, the 2008 NBA champion coach asked Edwards what play the Timberwolves had planned to run for their next possession.
The 2023 All-Star laughed it off and he was a sport about it. Rivers then insisted that even if the guard wouldn’t spill the beans, he knew the answer: Edwards was almost definitely going to get the ball.
Watch the hilarious conversation unfold in the video below:
Doc Rivers: "What y'all running? I know who it's for. I guarantee you that."
Anthony Edwards: "Don't double me."
Doc: "Well, it ain't been working anyway." 😂pic.twitter.com/wOrlMpIoSz
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 8, 2023
“It ain’t rocket science,” said TNT’s Jim Jackson. “Because if [Rivers] had Anthony Edwards, he would run a play for him coming out of the halftime as well.”
Rivers had a point: Edwards’ usage rate (30.1 percent) ranks in the 97th percentile among all NBA players, per Cleaning the Glass. Edwards has finished offensive 190 possessions for the Timberwolves after timeouts, per Synergy, which is the sixth-most in the NBA.
We don’t know exactly when this exchange happened between Rivers and Edwards. But after drawing a non-shooting foul at the end of the first quarter, the Timberwolves ran a play from out-of-bounds in which Edwards split the defenders after a high pick and roll and then this happened:
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) March 8, 2023
Edwards put Philly’s Jalen McDaniels on a poster after this vicious slam.
After the game, Rivers admitted to reporters that he thought Edwards was “gonna go for 90” if they didn’t figure out how to slow him down. Following a hot start, Edwards finished with 32 points.
Philadelphia won the game, 117-94, and didn’t even need to use any advice from Edwards to get it done.
