The Minnesota Timberwolves needed their young superstar to avoid a head-scratching loss. They trailed late against the banged-up New Orleans Pelicans, and Anthony Edwards forced overtime with a game-tying layup. He ultimately kept the team afloat en route to a 149-142 victory.
Edwards dropped 44 points in the win, 34 of which came in the second half. He scored his team’s first six points in the fourth quarter and shot 10-of-16 from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc in the second half.
As shown by OptaSTATS on X, that performance has put him in some very exclusive company, as he’s done something that hadn’t been done since Kobe Bryant in 2007.
Anthony Edwards joins Kobe Bryant in an exclusive club
Over his past six games, Edwards has scored over 150 points with more than 50 field goals and over 25 free throws made in just the second half and overtime. He’s the first player to do so in a six-game span since Bryant did it from March 16-27 nearly two decades ago.
Over his last 6 games, the @Timberwolves' Anthony Edwards has:
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) December 3, 2025
scored 150+ points
made 50+ field goals
made 25+ free throws
...just in the 2nd half & OT.
The last NBA player to put up those numbers after halftime over a 6-game span was Kobe Bryant from March 16-27, 2007. Pic.twitter.com/fs0wB5miUE
However, Edwards was far from satisfied with the win. They were visiting a team with a 3-18 record and at the bottom of the Western Conference, and he felt like they shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.
Edwards calls out the Timberwolves for sluggish effort
Following the game, the former No. 1 pick put his team on notice for going through the motions and putting themselves against the wall in a game they should’ve won easily:
“Can’t come into the game thinking you’re gonna win it before it starts,” Edwards said, per The Athletic. “It seems like we don’t want to play these games. We just want to fast-forward the season to the playoffs and then play all-out defense and play super hard. It just don’t work like that. We gotta be ready to play on any given night, and it starts with me. I came out kind of sluggish. I’ll be better next game.”
Edwards is averaging 29.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.2 steals per game on 49.4% from the floor, 41.3% from three-point range, and 82.1% from the free-throw line.
The Timberwolves are now 13-8 and in sixth place in the Western Conference, and given how close things are in the standings, they can’t afford to play down to their opposition’s level in games like this.