The Boston Celtics walked into Target Center on Thursday night in hopes of earning their second-straight victory. And they accomplished just that. They beat the Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 118-115, utilizing a very interesting defensive strategy along the way.
Throughout the night, the Celtics decided to turn Anthony Edwards into a playmaker. They sagged off some of Minnesota’s other players with the goal of taking away Edwards’ scoring punch. And while the rest of the Wolves got hot from three, it wasn’t enough to earn a win, as they still fell just short. Needless to say, Edwards wasn’t too pleased about the strategy.
And he spoke about it after the game.
Anthony Edwards will never be as good as Jayson Tatum
During an interview with reporters, Edwards talked about how frustrating it is when teams double-team him.
"It's not how I want to play, of course,” Edwards said via Dane Moore. “I'm only 23. I don't wanna just be passing the ball all night... But the way they're guarding me, I think I have to."
Pretty much the entirety of Anthony Edwards's postgame media was him talking about his frustration with the way teams are putting two on him, taking away his opportunities to be a scorer and forcing him to get off the ball.
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) January 3, 2025
"It's not how I want to play, of course. I'm only 23, I… pic.twitter.com/7bJdFS6zeU
Immediately, this response should ignite a furrowed brow. Almost every other superstar around the NBA, especially Celtics lead man Jayson Tatum, would talk about doing anything for the team. Putting aside personal accomplishments in favor of wins. Even if they did want to prioritize personal goals, they would acknowledge the importance of putting winning first.
Not Edwards.
Instead, he doubled down. And even when he was asked about how hard it is to play that way, he made sure to let people know how difficult it is for him.
“Super hard, super hard, super hard, super hard,” he said. “Because I'm wired to score the ball.”
When asked about being forced to be a team player, Edwards basically put out a flare to the world that said, “I LIKE TO BE SELFISH.”
Meanwhile, on the opposite sidelines, the very man Edwards refused to believe was one of the best players in the world has done the opposite for years.
In Netflix’s Starting 5, Edwards was visibly annoyed at the notion that Tatum is one of the best players in the NBA. He talked about how badly he wanted to be him. And even disregarding Tatum’s 8-1 record against Edwards, this proves that the Wolves star will never come anywhere close to him.
Even when Tatum was Edwards’ age (which was three years ago, when he went to the NBA Finals), he had a mature mindset. He’s always been that way.
Just one appearance in the Conference Finals and everyone around the league was ready to anoint Edwards as the next King of the NBA. Then, when he played more minutes on Team USA than Tatum, people solidified their beliefs.
But Edwards has never been better than Tatum. He never will be better than Tatum. Perhaps he's a better one-on-one scorer, but he's not a more versatile scorer. He's nowhere near the defender Tatum is. And clearly, he's certainly not the same level of playmaker. He's out classed by the Celtics superstar in almost every facet of the game.
And if Edwards keeps up this type of attitude, he won’t be better than most of the young stars in the game today.
Based on what he said after losing to the Celtics on Thursday, Edwards is in serious danger of becoming what no NBA player should want to be:
A losing player.