Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves lost a heartbreaker to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, January 20th. The game did not disappoint as the second seed in the Western Conference battled the first seed. The game came down to Anthony Edwards missing three straight free-throws after being fouled on a three-point shot attempt. Given Edwards’ greatness, this came as a shock to many. However, the electric Timberwolves guard did not mince words after the game. He criticized the officiating, particularly the calls that Thunder star guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tends to receive.
“It’s hard to [contain them] with the calls that Shai gets,” Edwards said. “It’s hard to shut them down. You can’t touch him any time of the game. It’s super hard to beat. That team is a good team, especially when they’re getting calls like that.”
Gilgeous-Alexander finished the night with 33 points and was 12/13 from the charity stripe. To Edwards’ credit, he also put a lot of the blame on himself for the loss.
“I got to look in the mirror,” Edwards said. “Because it’s me who generates most of the turnovers. … I’m definitely looking at film trying to figure out what am I doing? The majority come from me trying to make the right play. It’s not really there. I’ll be better.”
The league does not take kindly to their referees being called out, so it will be interesting to see if the Timberwolves’ star guard receives a fine.
Anthony Edwards Critical of NBA Officials After Narrow Loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder
Anthony Edward’s Night Against the Thunder
Other than missing the three free-throws that would have tied the game, Edwards was still solid for the most part. He logged 19 points, five total rebounds, and five assists. Edwards also shot 60.0 percent from the field, but also had a -13 box plus/minus total. However, not all of the blame should fall to Edwards. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 19 points on the night. However, he was a -19 in the box plus/minus department and only shot 40.0 percent from the field.
Center, Rudy Gobert, only recorded seven points, but did have 18 total rebounds. While the game was close, one could tell the Oklahoma City Thunder simply wanted it more from the opening tip-off. The Timberwolves are now 30-12 on the season and the Thunder are now 29-13, only one game back of Minnesota for first place in the Western Conference.
NBA Officiating Under Fire This Season
The NBA officials have came under a lot of scrutiny this season and for good reason. Multiple coaches and players have expressed their frustration and one would think the league would start to take their input into consideration. Sacramento Kings head coach, Mike Brown, was recently ejected from a game in which Sacramento lost to the Milwaukee Bucks and went off about the referees in the post-game press conference.
“The referees are human, and they’re going to make mistakes, but you just hope that there’s some sort of consistency and there’s some sort of communication between the refs,” Brown said after the game. “The refs tonight, they were great, they communicated with me all night. But in terms of consistency, you guys saw it right here. In my opinion, the consistency wasn’t here tonight.”
Memphis Grizzlies head coach, Taylor Jenkins, also had a similar rant at the start of the season after Jaren Jackson Jr. was ejected. Toronto Raptors head coach, Darko Rajaković, was also critical of the officiating after a recent loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Referees are always heavily criticized in any sport. However, in Anthony Edwards’ defense, there does seem to be too much inconsistency from the NBA officials this year.
