{"id":349292,"date":"2025-12-15T09:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T09:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/349292\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T09:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T09:54:11","slug":"timberwolves-hold-edwards-out-for-second-straight-game-with-sore-foot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/349292\/","title":{"rendered":"Timberwolves hold Edwards out for second straight game with sore foot"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 The Minnesota Timberwolves were missing star Anthony Edwards again.<\/p>\n

Their poise was present and accounted for.<\/p>\n

With Edwards absent for the second straight game<\/a> on Sunday with soreness in his right foot, his teammates picked up the slack after a sluggish start \u2014 and delivered another steely performance down the stretch on the way to a 117-103 victory<\/a> over Sacramento. <\/p>\n

The Timberwolves outscored the Kings 29-19 over the final 12 minutes, a league-leading eighth time this season they\u2019ve had a 10-plus-point advantage in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our composure down the stretch has gotten a lot better. Our ability to make the right read \u2014 and certainly shot making \u2014 has helped in those moments,\u201d coach Chris Finch said.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves (17-9), who have won seven of their last eight games, exacted a measure of revenge for their 117-112 overtime loss<\/a> at Sacramento on Nov. 24 when they blew a 10-point lead with less than three minutes remaining in regulation.<\/p>\n

That game came three nights after they fumbled an eight-point lead with 49 seconds left at Phoenix and lost 114-113<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about how we need to be better in closing games and the themes that popped up,\u201d Finch said, \u201cand guys have done a good job of addressing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards has been considered day-to-day with his availability. Finch said before the game the injury \u201chasn\u2019t calmed down to the point where he\u2019s able to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Backup point guard Mike Conley was also sidelined on Sunday, the 19-year veteran\u2019s second straight absence due to a right Achilles tendon injury. The short-handed backcourt meant another start for Bones Hyland, who has recently worked his way into a more meaningful role. Then center Rudy Gobert left the game midway through the third quarter for what the team announced as personal reasons.<\/p>\n

The absence of the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year award winner down the stretch forced Naz Reid to play the last 20 minutes of the game. The 2024 Sixth Man of the Year award winner finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds and made sure the interior defense didn\u2019t collapse without the long arms of Gobert.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the times we kind of understand the sense of urgency in the second half,\u201d Reid said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to kind of have that at the end of the game, but I think we just kind of figure it out as the game goes on. As the second half comes, we kind of all-the-way turn it on, which is like not normal, but we\u2019ve been getting the wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards missed four games earlier this season with a strained right hamstring. The three-time All-Star, who is eighth in the NBA with an average of 28.7 points per game, has already tallied his most absences since the 2021-22 season when he played in 72 games.<\/p>\n

With the Timberwolves in a slower stretch of the schedule, Edwards could get eight days of rest while only missing the two games. Minnesota hosts Memphis on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a bummer, but sometimes it\u2019s good for some players,\u201d Hyland said. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s just God opening a door for you. You still want to be there for your teammate if he\u2019s injured, be a good person, good teammate, but also step up. When someone goes down, we\u2019re all a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 The Minnesota Timberwolves were missing star Anthony Edwards again. Their poise was present and accounted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[20453,24017,64,63,726,485,172103,168181,20451,5387,5665,9287,192532,74679,590,31647,60872,85],"class_list":["post-349292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-anthony-edwards","tag-athlete-injuries","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-california","tag-chris-finch","tag-local-news-for-apple","tag-mike-conley","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-mn-state-wire","tag-nahshon-hyland","tag-naz-reid","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-rudy-gobert","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}