https://youtu.be/yKM-5wo4Swc
Anthony Edwards has been the starter in Minnesota since Jarrett Culver went out. I was not really aware that this had taken place, but it’s been like three weeks now that Edwards has been starting games. I feel like my grip on all things NBA related is starting to slip away from me, to not realize that the number one overall pick is now starting games and looking pretty good while doing it. Is this what having early-stage Alzheimer’s feels like? I keep thinking about the end of that book Flowers for Algernon, except the only intelligence I’m losing is my ability to keep track of player stats, and I also don’t have a pet rat like the dude in the book did. I just have Japurri, and he’s the same smart kitty he’s always been.
Anyway, Edwards set a career high in points, set a career high in field goals made, tied a career high in assists, tied a career high in three-pointers, and was one off a career high in rebounds this game. And he did it all while LeBron James occupied the same physical space that he did. If I, at any point, shared physical space with LeBron James while trying to play basketball, I would not rise up to the occasion like Edwards did. I would beg to get off the court. In fact, I would probably fake an injury, or I would induce a real injury. It is frighteningly easy for me to give myself leg cramps, for example.
A few years from now, we’ll be able to say if this game was a turning point in Edwards’ young career. To go toe-to-toe with Jabroni Lames, and almost come out on top, could give him that extra boot of confidence that sets him down the path of true dominance. Or it could have no effect on anything at all, and expose us once again as simple-minded fools desperately searching for the next easy-to-understand narrative. I, for one, would be happy to be exposed as such. In fact, I think I have already exposed myself by writing about this nonexistent narrative in the first place. Not sorry.