The Minnesota Timberwolves made the most of their first home game of the postseason with a blowout 113-96 win. All eyes were on Anthony Edwards, who has been questionable before every game this series and yet has produced results. Tonight, the Target Center couldn’t witness the vintage Ant performance as the 24-year-old played just 24 minutes.

Apart from limited minutes and just 17 points, another trouble for him was his five fouls. When the Timberwolves star picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, he was walking off with a noticeable limp. In frustration, he even kicked a chair on the bench en route to the locker room. Anthony Edwards had 15 points at the time of the foul; he later returned to play, but not for long.

In the third and final frame, he played 4 minutes each and picked up his fourth and fifth personal fouls. Since he was already in foul trouble and the Nuggets were not putting an immense challenge, the head coach decided it was better for the 24-year-old to rest early. After the game, the head coach spoke about the decision of Ant-Man not to return.

“He was in foul trouble,” said Chris Finch to the media. “Every time I turned around I had to take him out of the game. We didn’t need him in the end, thankfully. So he gets the chance to get some rest and we need him back. I know he’s happy, he doesn’t care when we win.” He did not provide any further assessment of Ant’s health.

Edwards served as the driving force of Minnesota’s historic 119-114 playoff comeback victory over the Nuggets in Game 2. He pulled off with 30 points and 10 rebounds across 40 minutes, as he and the Wolves came back from being down 19. But tonight was the opposite. Edwards finished the game with 17 points while shooting just 40% from the field, adding five rebounds and three assists. In his absence, Jaden McDaniels led the Timberwolves’ starters with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Ayo Dosunmu exploded off the bench with 25 points and nine assists on 10-15 shooting from the field.

The All-Star Game MVP has had an injury-riddled season in which he’s played a career-low 61 games. The knee injury has caused Anthony Edwards to miss a large chunk of those games.

Can injured Anthony Edwards distract the Wolves’ momentum?

The Wolves star has been dealing with a right knee injury, causing him to miss 11 of the last 13 regular-season outings. The reality is that Ant has been playing through an ailment in the business end of the season. After the Game 1 loss, head coach Chris Finch termed his sluggish 7 of 19 shooting performance as “a rusty game back”. Even Ant admitted he felt a little fatigued after Game 1.

“I mean, a little fatigued. I didn’t I haven’t played in like a month, a month and a half, so a little fatigued, but that was expected. Other than that, I felt good.” Again, for Game 2, he was questionable before he led the Wolves to a 19-point comeback win. Bumping knees with Nikola Jokic early in the first quarter, Edwards began to hobble. Despite this, he would score a game-high 30 points, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture. He scored 20 points by halftime and a further 8 in the third frame.

Meaning in the final quarter, he scored just 2, despite playing 9 minutes. He went 1-4 in Game 2 and 0-2 in FG tonight in the final quarter. If it’s injury management, then Wolves would hope it’s all cleared up before Game 4.