Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards remains confident in his team despite staring at a 3-0 hole against the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.
"Time to make history, fellas," Edwards told his teammates in the locker room after Sunday's 116-107 defeat, per The Athletic's Sam Amick. "I still don't feel like they can beat us, bro. We haven't all been clicking at one time. One game. One game."
He added that "we're here now, fellas" and pressed his teammates by asking, "What are we gonna do?"
No NBA team has ever advanced after losing the first three games of a best-of-seven playoff series. Only four, most recently the Boston Celtics last year, have even pushed the series to a winner-take-all Game 7.
The Western Conference Finals have been close. The first two games were decided by four combined points, so Game 3 looks like a blowout by comparison. This was also a contest in which the Timberwolves led with five minutes left.
Edwards' comments are why youth can sometimes be an advantage in the postseason. When you've made the playoffs in three of your first four seasons and individually risen to the occasion in each year, reeling off four straight wins may not sound that intimidating.
But the history speaks for itself. If overturning a 3-0 deficit were that easy, then somebody would've done it by now.
For Minnesota, it doesn't help the team's best players aren't delivering like they need to.
Edwards had 40 points on 11-of-33 shooting in the first two games. Karl-Anthony Towns is averaging 15.0 points and shooting 27.8 percent from the floor in the series. Rudy Gobert had just nine points and six rebounds in Game 3.
In the case of Towns, he's reinforcing the general perception some have that he can't step up on the biggest stage.
You wouldn't be surprised if the Wolves took Game 4 and maybe even pushed this series to six games given how small the margins have been. But there probably aren't many who share Edwards' level of belief.
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