Anthony Edwards, in return from hamstring injury, sacrifices offense to play tough defense

NEW YORK – Before Wednesday night’s game against the New York Knicks, Anthony Edwards walked into the Timberwolves locker room at Madison Square Garden without saying much of anything.

He put compression airbags on both of his legs, lay down on the floor with his head propped up against the foot of his locker, and stayed there watching his phone for about 20 minutes.

Then when he took the floor, he put his right hamstring to the test in guarding the Knicks’ top scorer, guard Jalen Brunson.

Last season, Wolves forward Julius Randle said he learned a lot when he sat out because of a groin injury, and when he came back, he knew better where he could fit in with Minnesota’s offense.

After Edwards’ four-game absence, perhaps he learned something about this Wolves team — that he has to live up to his preseason pledge to lock in more on the defensive end.

“Especially because I know they’re probably going to be double-teaming me anyway, so it’s going to be hard for me to hunt shots,” Edwards said. “So, I can affect the game by trying to make it hard on their best player.”

The defense wasn’t great for the Wolves again in their 137-114 loss to the Knicks, who embarrassed the Wolves on the offensive glass with 31 second-chance points. It was another whack-a-mole problem that popped up for a Wolves team (4-4) that has looked little like itself on the defensive end through eight games. To get back to form, the Wolves need Edwards to unlock his defensive potential.

“I feel like I did great on [Brunson],” Edwards said. “I don’t know how many points he finished with (23 points on 9-for-20 shooting), but I felt like I did a great job on him.”

BOXSCORE: New York 137, Wolves 114

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But that defense can come with a cost at the other end. That cost is one reason why Edwards hasn’t talked so much about rededicating himself to defense until now. The energy to be the main guy at both ends of the floor can be taxing. Look at how Edwards performed offensively while taking an “A” defensive matchup: He deferred early and often and ended up with 15 points on 5-for-13 shooting.

It might not be like that every night. After all, this was Edwards’ first game back from that right hamstring injury.

Edwards said he felt “great” as he came back from the first hamstring injury that caused him to miss time in his career. When asked whether this was a different recovery period than other injuries he has had, Edwards said “a little bit.”

“Because you don’t want to move too fast, go out there and try to do too much,” he said. “But I felt great tonight. I was ready to ball out tonight. Basketball gods had other intentions.”

Well, it wasn’t really fate that caused the Wolves to play such bad defense or not rebound Wednesday. They had 22 defensive rebounds to the Knicks’ 21 offensive rebounds. Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson had nine offensive rebounds, while Rudy Gobert finished with nine rebounds overall to lead the Wolves.

“It’s a spirit thing,” Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo said of the defense. “It’s an energy thing. Everybody’s familiar with each other in this locker room. At some point, you just gotta go out and do it. You can talk about it until you’re blue in the face, but you just gotta go out and do it. Right now, we’re a sometimes team. We need to be an always team in that regard.”