Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards is one of the budding faces of the NBA, but he didn't get the star treatment from officials in Saturday's Game 1 against the Nuggets.
Edwards beat Denver's Reggie Jackson to get to the basket and extend a Timberwolves run in the third quarter — only for Minnesota's momentum to be halted by a technical foul call against the 22-year-old.
Edwards stared down Jackson after the bucket, but that appeared to be the extent of it. He didn't seem to say anything to Jackson, and it wasn't even clear whether Jackson was looking directly at Edwards in that moment. The stare lasted about three seconds as Edwards started to head back to the other end of the floor in the opening game of the second-round series.
HOW DID ANT GET A TECH FOR THIS BRO WHAT pic.twitter.com/klQRLRjZo2
— KingCharge (@KingCharge) May 5, 2024
The former No. 1 pick couldn't believe the call, throwing his hands out in shock. A 9-1 run had just turned a small Timberwolves deficit into a five-point lead on the road. The call didn't swing the lead back to the Nuggets, but it did at least temporarily derail the momentum Minnesota was building.
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TNT analyst Jamal Crawford was quick to rip the officials for the call, saying: "You can't celebrate someone for being a dog and then give them a tech for staring." His fellow analyst Reggie Miller was similarly baffled.
Jamal Crawford nailed that assessment of the Ant Tech: “you cant celebrate someone for being a dog and then give them a tech for staring.”
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) May 5, 2024
The NBA league office rescinded Edwards' technical foul on Sunday, May 5.
Anthony Edwards’ (MIN) technical foul at 1:15 of the 3rd quarter on 5/4/24 (vs. DEN) has been rescinded upon league office review.
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) May 5, 2024
The call raised questions about what kind of emotion is acceptable in a playoff game between two championship hopefuls. Edwards certainly didn't believe he earned the technical, and neither did most of the NBA community.
Weak ass tech!
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) May 5, 2024
The TNT broadcast openly wondered why Jamal Murray wasn't assessed a similar call for taunting after a sequence later in the game when the Nuggets guard pointed finger guns at Karl-Anthony Towns.
🚨Jamal Murray splashes a three on Karl Anthony Towns then points finger guns at him
— bobo (@ohitsbobo) May 5, 2024
nahh this is crazyy pic.twitter.com/5GFtdngTek
Edwards was right up against the technical foul limit in the regular season with 15, one away from triggering a suspension. But players get a clean slate in the playoffs and need to accumulate seven to earn a one-game ban.
Saturday's technical foul was just one blip on the radar for Edwards, as he finished with 43 points on 17-of-29 shooting in the Timberwolves' win. The effort made Edwards only the second player in NBA history aged 22 or younger with consecutive 40-point playoff games, joining only Kobe Bryant.
