The Timberwolves‘ hopes for evening up the series with the Nuggets hinge primarily on the health of star shooting guard Anthony Edwards who is listed as questionable for tonight’s game due to ongoing discomfort from runner’s knee. However, there’s reason for optimism, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

“Anthony Edwards is gonna be playing tonight,” Charania reports (Twitter video link). “He’s gonna gut through it.”

While the pronouncement was speculative, Charania’s emphatic declaration is a good sign for Wolves fans.

Edwards’ ailment, which is similar to the one Stephen Curry missed time with, causes swelling and pain in the knee and requires rest to heal fully. It became enough of an issue that a platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, injection was needed towards the end of the season to reduce inflammation.

Edwards played 38 minutes in Game 1, scoring 22 points on 19 shots while adding nine rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks.

We have more from around the Northwest Division:

• Prior to the Trail Blazers‘ Game 1 on Sunday, Jerami Grant hadn’t played a playoff game since the NBA Bubble season of 2019/20. He’s excited to be playing at the highest levels of competition again, according to Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “I miss the playoffs so much,” Grant said at the end of the regular season. “It’s been a long time. Unbelievable. I can never get accustomed to it.” However, things didn’t go according to plan for the Blazers’ veterans in the loss to the Spurs. Jrue Holiday and Grant combined to shoot 6-of-21 from the field. “I didn’t play great,” Grant said, per Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. “There wasn’t really a lot of opportunity out there, but I didn’t play great. I think we’ve all got to be better, make some shots, figure out where we are going to get our shots and just try to execute the game plan better.”


• The Wolves came away from Game 1’s loss to the Nuggets knowing that they left points on the board, Tyler King writes for the Denver Gazette. “It’s a lot of composure issues,” coach Chris Finch said. “We’ve gotta make smarter, more solid plays. We had two turnovers right in the middle of one run back (into the game). We gotta be more composed. Plays like that really hurt you in the playoffs, especially against an experienced team… A lot of self-inflicted wounds.” Finch went on to note the lack of movement off-ball on offense and the team getting stuck playing around the perimeter, but didn’t seem overly concerned. “Road team losing Game 1 on the road is nothing to really worry about, as long as you come out with the right mindset and approach and are sharp,” he said. “Everything flips when you win Game 2 and on goes the series. I would expect our guys to be confident.”


• The Nuggets’ defensive intensity has waxed and waned all season, but it was on full display in their Game 1 victory, Bennett Durando writes for The Denver Post. “They tried to bully us a little bit in the front. We knew that was gonna happen. That’s how this team tries to get under our skin,” Spencer Jones said. “So for us to match it from beginning to end and never give in, and see them be the ones to kind of complain to the refs more than we were — it shows how focused we were.” Nikola Jokic put the strategy even more succinctly, saying, “Just be annoying the whole game.”