Has Edwards truly entered the ranks of super giants? The Western Conference Finals has a long way to go

If you only examine Edwards' playoff achievements, the 23-year-old has brought the team to the height of the Western Conference twice, one step away from a successful breakthrough in the West.

This achievement is already remarkable, isn't it?

But if we examine the Timberwolves' star with higher requirements, there are many things to be discussed.

When Edwards was praised by the outside world as "the next signboard of the league" and was one of the best superstars in the league, his identity was measured by the championship trophy, right?

After all, only that heavy O'Brien Cup is the biggest confidence of a super giant.

And the distance between Edwards' current championship trophy must first cross the mountain in the Western Conference Finals -

When the Western Conference Finals stands tall in front of Edwards and eventually becomes an insurmountable mountain for the latter, Edwards is naturally controversial.

Interestingly, Edwards once again screwed up the Western Conference Finals this season - The reason why Edwards messed up the Western Conference Finals was that in addition to his average performance throughout the series, G4G5 even lost its level performance, which was almost unbearable to look at.

When the Thunder took the lead in successfully defending two home courts, the two teams have since been the center of the Timberwolves' home target. Logically speaking, the Timberwolves need to defend their home dignity at this time, and no home court can be missed.

When the G3 Timberwolves won a big victory, the team in the G4 game should have taken advantage of the victory. Edwards pulled his hips in that game -

He played for 41 minutes in the game, made 5 of 13 shots, including 1 of 7 three-pointers, and 5 free throws. In the end, he only contributed 16 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 5 turnovers. His shooting percentage was 38.5%, his three-point shooting percentage was 14.3%, and his real shooting percentage was 49.8%, and his personal positive and negative value was as low as -3.

It is worth mentioning that Edwards only took action once at the critical moment of the game (within the last five minutes), but unfortunately failed to hit the ball, and the star was not responsible for it at all.

As for the G5 game, Edwards still failed to bottom out and rebounded, which is far from the adjustment posture that a super giant should have. In the G5 match of the Western Conference Finals, Edwards made 7 of 18 shots in the whole game, 1 of 7 three-pointers, and only scored 19 points. In the end, he was forced to punch in more than 6 minutes ahead of schedule in the final quarter, and witnessed his opponent Thunder ending the series strongly...

It is worth mentioning that Edwards beat Curry and others to be elected as the three-point leader this season. His three-point shooting percentage in the regular season exceeded 40%, and his shooting percentage was really amazing.

However, throughout the Western Conference Finals series, Edwards made a total of 5 of 29 three-pointers, and the Western Conference Finals made three-pointers twice, which was surprising.

In the first two rounds of this year's playoffs, the Timberwolves first eliminated the Lakers 4-1 and the Warriors 4-1 in the second round, making them progress all the way.

plus the two rounds of the series in 2024, Edwards has eliminated Durant + Booker, Jokic + Murray, James + Doncic, and Curry + Butler in the playoffs.

However, when Edwards made a bleak performance in the Western Conference Finals, even though his resume was not recorded, he still could not avoid becoming the target of public criticism. In 2024, facing the Mavericks in 5 games in the Western Conference Finals, Edwards averaged 41.5 minutes per game, averaged 24.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 1 steal, 0.4 blocks and 3.4 turnovers, with a shooting percentage of 43%, and a three-point shooting percentage of 40.6%, with a moderate performance.

5 games in the Western Conference Finals this year, Edwards averaged 18 shots per game, contributing 23.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.6 blocks and 3.2 turnovers, shooting percentage of 47.2%, three-point shooting percentage of 28.2%, with a total plus and negative value of -41, and his performance was like an undercover agent.