Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves are still trying to climb over the Western Conference hump

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Once the Minnesota Timberwolves had conceded defeat midway through the fourth quarter of their series-clinching loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Anthony Edwards came out of the game and sat down next to Donte DiVincenzo.

All those double-teams Edwards faced in the second round once he crossed halfcourt could've been a lot easier to counteract with a simple pass to his trusty teammate DiVincenzo in the slot to set up a 3-point shot and make the Spurs think twice about trapping.

“Missing Donte is big for us, man,” Edwards said after the season-ending defeat on Friday night. “He spreads the floor like no other.”

When DiVincenzo went down with a torn right Achilles tendon midway through the first round, the Timberwolves in an instant lost one of their headiest and steadiest players on both ends of the floor. He combined for a plus-40 rating and 31 points over their Game 2 and Game 3 victories against Denver that took control of that series.

Then after DiVincenzo's crushing injury in the opening minute of Game 4, Edwards joined him on the sideline with a hyperextension and bone bruise in his left knee. He returned ahead of schedule to start the second round, but his usual explosiveness wasn't there. Sixth man Naz Reid was available the whole way, but he had to fight through a lingering right shoulder injury that hindered him throughout the regular season.

Edwards, who'd also been playing through pain in his right knee for much of the year, quickly zeroed in on strength and conditioning when he spoke about his focus for the upcoming offseason.

“The basketball stuff,” Edwards said, “it’s not last, but when it comes to me being injured a lot this year, I’ve got to really focus on my knees, my ankles, my hips.”

The young core isn't quite so young anymore, as the four-time All-Star began to find out with his body this year. Edwards will turn 25 in August.

“I think it’s been eye-opening for him in the sense that he realizes how fragile sometimes these things can be,” coach Chris Finch said on Saturday morning at team headquarters as players went through exit meetings with staff. “Yeah, 100% health is going to be absolutely key for him. There’s going to be skill pieces to his game that he’s going to always want to add or polish, but to me it’s more about his approach and how he sees himself coming into the season and what the team really needs.”

The most impactful contribution Edwards can make to this deep, proud and talented team that has won five playoff series over the last three years is actually on the mental side. For all the resilience the Wolves have long possessed, no more evident than after DiVincenzo and Edwards were injured against the Nuggets, they have not yet figured out how to put it all together during the regular season in a way that repeated good habits can be easily tapped when games get hard in the playoffs.

“There’s just no place for that inconsistency when you’re trying to compete for a championship,” veteran point guard Mike Conley said.

Finch put his finger on the trouble during one of the regular-season ruts, identifying a moodiness that gets in the way of the type of surgical execution of game plans that the defending champion Oklahoma City and now San Antonio can consistently lean on.

“We let our head down a little too long or a little too low, where we kind of put ourselves in the mud and were finding trouble getting out," Reid said.

Finch revealed in his season-ending interview with reporters that he decided rather abruptly right before the regular season to put DiVincenzo in the starting lineup in favor of the 38-year-old Conley, who handled the diminished playing time with class but made clear on Saturday that he still plans to play another season or two. The move worked wonders for DiVincenzo's confidence and production, but making Edwards the primary point guard put more on his shoulders and the absence of Conley's ball-handling, experience and court vision in key spots was clearly felt.

“Coach obviously has a lot of trust and confidence in what I can bring at moments during the year, and he kind of leaned into that a little bit in the playoffs,” said Conley, who will be an unrestricted free agent. “I was able to play some of my better basketball down the stretch, I think, of the season.”

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