By Jon Krawczynski | The Athletic, 2026-05-05 12:27:46
圣安东尼奥——他拥有的财富这辈子甚至下辈子都花不完。他在明尼苏达拥有一枚奥运金牌和一座全明星MVP奖杯，这些都是他过人天赋的闪耀见证。他年仅24岁，篮球生涯还很长，可以去追求更多胜利，拿更多分，并在已经带领明尼苏达森林狼达到队史新高度的基础上再创辉煌。
说了这么多，只是为了明确一点：安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 现在并不需要这么做。他不需要在NBA季后赛第二轮一瘸一拐地走上球场，去对抗一个臂展长到足以遮天蔽日的盖帽机器。所有人都看到了他在首轮对阵丹佛掘金时左膝扭伤的画面，所以他不需要急着复出来向任何人证明什么。
但话又说回来，也许爱德华兹确实需要。
也许再多的金钱、再多的AE2配色以及在亚当·桑德勒电影中的客串，对爱德华兹来说都不够。也许在他内心深处——那些曾质疑他是否热爱篮球的选秀专家们从未花时间探索过的地方——爱德华兹不仅仅是想和队友们一起上场。也许他需要和他们并肩作战。
否则该如何解释周一晚上在圣安东尼奥发生的一切？爱德华兹蹒跚着走进弗罗斯特银行中心球馆，在第四节砍下18分中的11分，帮助森林狼以104-102的胜利击败了夺冠大热门马刺。如果不是这种渴望，还有什么能迫使他接受全天候的治疗，去应对右膝疼痛的炎症以及左膝的过度伸展和骨挫伤，从而比任何人的预期都提前至少五天回归？
爱德华兹在这场西部半决赛首战中对阵马刺的表现是买不来的，也装不出来的。没有人向他施压。如果有的话，反倒是球队内部的人在试图给他的宏伟计划泼冷水。
“理智点。这只是第一场。没必要急于求成。”
爱德华兹并不买账。他或许还年轻，但他对摆在面前的机会有着越来越清晰的认识。在过去的两个赛季中，他都杀入了分区决赛，但最终都遗憾出局。
随着他步入巅峰期，他审视了NBA的格局，看到波士顿、密尔沃基、丹佛和金州的冠军之师纷纷陨落。在他六年的职业生涯中，他第一次遭受了无法等闲视之的伤病。他也比以往任何时候都更信任自己的球队。他不想让他们在没有他的情况下，去对抗维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和这支拿到62胜的马刺。
“我想和我的兄弟们并肩作战，”爱德华兹说道。
任何神智清醒的人如果决定休战，都是可以理解的。森林狼在圣安东尼奥要打两场，然后周五和周日才回到主场进行第三和第四场。如果爱德华兹缺席这两个客场，他的膝盖将获得13天的休息时间。他已经看到唐特·迪文琴佐 (Donte DiVincenzo) 在本届季后赛中遭遇了毁灭性的伤病，所以如果他想求稳，谁又能责怪他呢？
很少有人会指责爱德华兹在衡量场上能力时表现得过于理性。话又说回来，你会说科比·布莱恩特 (Kobe Bryant) 在带伤作战时很理智吗？迈克尔·乔丹 (Michael Jordan) 有多少次直视训练师的眼睛说：“你说得对。我会放轻松，再多休息一会儿。”
别搞错了，这种坚韧、这种动力、这种拒绝向足以让大多数球员缺阵数周的伤病低头的劲头，比任何后仰跳投或滑翔扣篮都更像乔丹。
“我的意思是，没人预料到他会打，”后卫迈克·康利 (Mike Conley) 说道，他全场三分球7投4中贡献12分。“他不仅是对比赛，更是对队友表现出的这种承诺。这说明了很多问题。”
周一比赛下半场，安东尼·爱德华兹顶着马刺球员德文·瓦塞尔的防守投篮。(Daniel Dunn / Imagn Images)
如果说这些年来对爱德华兹的比赛有什么微词的话，那就是他有时在保养身体方面不够细心。
鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert) 上周末讲了一个故事，半开玩笑地说文班亚马打电话问他家里用的是哪种滤水器。当被问及爱德华兹或他任何年轻的森林狼队友是否向他咨询过饮食或滤水方面的建议时，这位老将长叹了一口气。
“我试着和这里的年轻人谈论他们吃的食物之类的事情，”戈贝尔说，“但我没收到过这类问题。”
爱德华兹的队友们经常开玩笑说，看着他重重摔倒在地，似乎受了重伤，结果却发现他回来时安然无恙。
“我只记得去年年初刚来这里的时候，他会摔得很惨，或者被撞得很重，”朱利叶斯·兰德尔 (Julius Randle) 说，“我们可能得叫个暂停，你会想，该死，他可能真的受伤了。然后他就站起来了。我不惊讶。他热爱比赛，所以他会尽其所能让自己上场。”
他因身体恢复快而被称为“金刚狼”。但在某些方面，这对他来说也是一种伤害。在这次膝盖受伤之前，爱德华兹从未真正致力于休息和恢复。他的身体太年轻、太强壮，以至于他不太担心。这在联盟中并不罕见。
“正如你所料，他在18、19岁时并没有养成这些习惯，”明尼苏达主帅克里斯·芬奇 (Chris Finch) 说道。
这两次膝盖受伤考验了爱德华兹看似超人的伤愈能力。他的右膝让他缺席了常规赛最后14场比赛中的11场。当他在对阵掘金的第四场比赛中感到左膝扭伤时，一种新的担忧涌上心头。
突然间，他不能只是睡一觉醒来就没有任何痛感了。他被告知至少要休息两周，这意味着他将在第二轮第四场复出。但这行不通。
“他热爱比赛，”芬奇说。“伤病发生时我们躲过了一劫。他做得非常出色，我们的医疗团队在让他恢复到这个程度方面也做得令人难以置信。我们能够赢下第一轮系列赛的事实极大地激励了他。我认为那对他来说也是一种鼓舞。”
爱德华兹生平第一次全身心地投入到康复过程中，注重每一个细节。这包括他周六第一次接受高压氧舱治疗，以及整个星期的水池训练。他没有去丹佛观看第六场比赛，而是为了接受进一步的膝盖治疗。
所有的治疗手段在上周末开始显现成效。爱德华兹在周六进行了一些轻量训练，然后在周日的计划中加入了跳跃。突然间，隧道尽头的曙光变得耀眼夺目。
“在过去的五年里，他在致力于常规训练方面做得非常出色，”芬奇说，“正是这样的时刻，这些付出得到了回报。”
森林狼最不想做的就是让他们的当家球星冒任何重大风险。然而，在医疗团队进行了彻底检查后，爱德华兹获准重返赛场。
“只要看到他在球馆里，参加我们的练习，参加我们的投篮训练，只要看到他活跃起来，就给了我们所有人希望，”康利说。
由于爱德华兹、迪文琴佐（阿基里斯腱）和阿约·多孙穆 (Ayo Dosunmu) 的伤病，森林狼在第一场比赛中被视为大冷门。芬奇给爱德华兹设定了25分钟的限制，所以教练让他的球星替补出场，以便更好地管理时间限制。
缺阵和质疑似乎只会让爱德华兹更加大胆。他慢慢进入状态，在第一节得到5分，测试膝盖以观察身体的承受能力。到第三节结束时，爱德华兹在15分钟内6投3中仅得7分，马刺看起来准备拉开比分。
进入第四节时圣安东尼奥领先3分，就在这时，爱德华兹开始发力。
他在明尼苏达的前三次进攻中投中两个三分球，其中一个还是迎着文班亚马伸出的手臂投中的，帮助森林狼反超。他还助攻兰德尔投中三分，并让那双嘎吱作响的膝盖充分热身，两次突破篮下得分，并在禁区封盖了迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)。
在本节前五分钟砍下11分的攻势中，他通过一对一单挑克尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson)，并在篮下投中一记高难度的抛投，以88-84领先，以此为这波攻势画上句号。
约翰逊在进球后盯着爱德华兹大喊：“你打得很挣扎！”
爱德华兹反唇相讥，然后看着兰德尔带走比赛。兰德尔在第四节贡献了21分中的9分，并抢下10个篮板；纳兹·里德 (Naz Reid) 得到12分9个篮板；特伦斯·香农 (Terrence Shannon Jr.) 得到16分，同时分担了爱德华兹的大量控球任务。香农在35分钟内零失误。
“赛前我叫他英雄，”康利谈到爱德华兹时说。“你会仰望这样一个人，为了准备好第一场比赛，他在过去一周里付出了这么多。”
森林狼在第四节一度领先多达9分，但爱德华兹在一次边线球发球时出现低级失误，送给哈珀一个扣篮，并且两次漏掉了对朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 的卡位，让马刺重新回到了比赛中。尚帕尼错失了最后的绝杀三分。
“只是战术执行上的错误，不会再发生了，”爱德华兹说。
赛后，森林狼的更衣室里充满了乐观情绪。在首轮锁死丹佛排名联盟第一的进攻后，这支防线又让文班亚马和德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 合计31投仅10中，其中三分球12投0中。明尼苏达还让圣安东尼奥拿到了27分快攻得分，投丢了9个罚球，并且很难适应文班亚马在禁区的存在——他送出了12次盖帽。
森林狼知道他们可以打得更好。但他们最大的信心源于知道5号回来了，正在做他最喜欢做的事——走进对手的球馆，与场上的五个人和看台上的19,000人对抗。
“我的意思是，球馆里的每个人都在反对我们，”爱德华兹说。“我认为这是最棒的事情。……喊着‘马刺加油’之类的话。我属于明尼苏达。我永远支持明尼苏达。”
周三的第二场比赛他还会回来。不是因为他想，而是因为他需要。
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Anthony Edwards is playing through pain for Minnesota. He has no other choice
Anthony Edwards is playing through pain for Minnesota. He has no other choice
SAN ANTONIO — He has more money than he could spend in this or several more lifetimes. He has an Olympic gold medal and an All-Star MVP trophy in Minnesota, shimmering reminders of his prodigious talent. He is only 24 years old, with his whole basketball life ahead of him to chase more wins, get more buckets and build on a career that has already taken the Minnesota Timberwolves to heights they have never seen without him.
All of that is said to make one thing clear: Anthony Edwards does not needto be doing this right now. He does not need to be hobbling out onto the court in the second round of the NBA playoffs to go head-to-head with a shot-blocking force with arms long enough to blot out the sun. Everyone saw his left knee buckle in the first round against the Denver Nuggets, so he didn’t need to rush back to prove anything to anyone.
Then again, maybe Edwards does need it.
Maybe all the money, all the AE2 colorways and all the guest appearances in Adam Sandler movies are not enough for Edwards. Maybe deep down inside of him, in places that those draft experts who questioned his love of the game never took the time to explore, Edwards doesn’t just want to be out on the floor with his teammates. Maybe he needsto be out there with them.
How else to explain what happened in San Antonio on Monday night, when Edwards limped into Frost Bank Center and scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to help push the Timberwolves to a 104-102 victory over the heavily favored Spurs? What else could compel him to put his body through around-the-clock treatment on the painful inflammation in his right knee and the hyperextension and bone bruise in his left one so he could return at least five days sooner than anyone expected?
What Ant did against the Spurs in Game 1 of this Western Conference semifinal series can’t be bought. It can’t be faked. No one was pressuring him to do it. If anything, there were people around the organization trying to pump the brakes on his grand plans.
Be smart. It’s only Game 1. No reason to rush it.
Edwards wasn’t having any of it. He might be young, but his awareness of the opportunity in front of him is becoming clearer and clearer. He has roared to the conference finals in each of the last two seasons, only to go out with a whimper.
As he strides toward his prime, he has surveyed the NBA landscape and seen how proud champions in Boston, Milwaukee, Denver and Golden State have all fallen. For the first time in his six-year career, he has suffered from injuries that could not be shrugged off. He also believes in his team as much as ever. He does not want to leave them to fight Victor Wembanyama and the 62-win Spurs without him.
“I wanted to be out there with my brothers,” Edwards said.
Anyone of sound mind would be forgiven if he decided to sit this one out. The Wolves play twice in San Antonio before returning home for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday. Had Edwards skipped both the road games, his knees would have gotten 13 days of rest. He has already seen Donte DiVincenzo suffer a catastrophic injury in this postseason, so who could blame him if he wanted to play it safe?
Few have ever accused Edwards of thinking rationally when it comes to his abilities on the court. Then again, would you call Kobe Bryant well-adjusted when it came to playing through injury? How often did Michael Jordan look an athletic trainer in the eye and say, “You know what, you’re right. I’ll take it easy and rest up for a little while longer.”
Make no mistake, the toughness, the drive, the refusal to give in to an injury that would keep most players out for weeks, that was more Jordan than any turnaround jumper or soaring dunk could ever be.
“I mean, nobody expected him to play,” said guard Mike Conley, who scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. “Just his level of commitment to the game, not only to the game, but to his teammates. That just showed a lot.”
Anthony Edwards shoots over the Spurs’ Devin Vassell in the second half on Monday. (Daniel Dunn / Imagn Images)
If there has been one quibble about Edwards’ game over the years, it has been how inattentive he could be at times in caring for his body.
Rudy Gobert was only half-joking last weekend when he told a story about Wembanyama calling him to ask what kind of water filter he uses at home. When asked if Edwards, or any of his younger Wolves teammates, ever asked him for tips on diet or water filtration, the veteran let out a big sigh.
“I try to talk to the young guys here about the food they eat and stuff like that,” Gobert said. “But I don’t get those kind of questions.”
Edwards’ teammates have a running joke about watching him hit the floor hard and appear to be seriously injured, only to see him return no worse for the wear.
“I just remember last year being here at the beginning of the year, and he would take a nasty fall or a hit or whatever,” Julius Randle said. “We might have to call a timeout, and you’re like, damn, he might be hurt for real. Then he just gets up. I’m not surprised. He loves to play the game, so he’s going to do whatever he can to put himself in position to be out here.”
He is called Wolverine for his fast-healing body. But in some ways, that has been a detriment to him. Before this pair of knee ailments, Edwards had never truly committed himself to rest and recovery. His body was just too young and too strong for him to worry much about it. That is not unique in the league.
“He didn’t really have the habits, as you would expect, as an 18-, 19-year-old,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said.
The two knee injuries have put Edwards’ seemingly superhuman ability to recover from injury to the test. His right knee caused him to miss 11 of the last 14 regular-season games. When he felt his left knee buckle in Game 4 against the Nuggets, it sent a new concern through him.
Suddenly, he couldn’t just go to bed and wake up without any pain. He was told to give it at least two weeks, which would have put him on track to play in Game 4 of the second round. That just would not do.
“He loves to play the game,” Finch said. “We dodged a bullet when it happened. He’s done an incredible job, and our medical staff has done an unbelievable job of getting him to this point. He was super motivated by the fact we were able to get that first series. I think that was a little bit of an inspiration for him, too.”
For the first time in his life, Edwards threw himself into the rehab process with diligence and attention to detail. That included his first-ever treatment in a hyperbaric chamber on Saturday and pool work throughout the week. He did not attend Game 6 against Denver to receive further treatment for his knees.
All the modalities started to show progress last weekend. Edwards did some light work on Saturday and then incorporated jumping into his program on Sunday. Suddenly, the light at the end of the tunnel was blinding.
“He has done an outstanding job over the last five years of really dedicating himself to his routine,” Finch said. “It’s times like this that that pays off.”
The last thing the Wolves wanted to do was take any significant chances with the face of their franchise. However, after thorough examinations by the medical staff, Edwards was cleared to return to action.
“Just seeing him in the building, a part of our practices, a part of our shootaround, just being active, it just gave us all that hope,” Conley said.
The Timberwolves entered Game 1 as heavy underdogs, thanks to the injuries to Edwards, DiVincenzo (Achilles) and Ayo Dosunmu (calf). Finch was given a 25-minute limit for Edwards, so the coach brought his star off the bench to manage the time constraints better.
The absences and the doubt only seemed to embolden Edwards. He eased his way into the game, scoring five points in the first quarter, testing his knee to see what his body would allow. By the time the third quarter was over, Edwards had just seven points on 3-of-6 shooting in 15 minutes, and the Spurs looked like they were ready to pull away.
San Antonio led by three points heading into the fourth, and that’s when Edwards made his move.
He hit two 3s in Minnesota’s first three possessions, including one over Wembanyama’s outstretched hand to put the Wolves in front. He also fed Randle for a 3 and got those creaky knees warmed up enough to score on two drives to the basket and swat Dylan Harper in the paint.
He punctuated an 11-point flurry in the first five minutes of the quarter by breaking Keldon Johnson down one-on-one and scoring a tough floater in the lane for an 88-84 lead.
Johnson stared Edwards down after the bucket and hollered, “You’re struggling!”
Edwards barked back at him and then watched Randle take them home. Randle scored nine of his 21 points in the fourth and grabbed 10 rebounds, Naz Reid had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 16 points while taking a lot of ballhandling duties off of Edwards. Shannon had zero turnovers in 35 minutes.
“I called him my hero before the game,” Conley said of Edwards. “You look up to somebody for what he just put himself through in the last week just to get ready for Game 1.”
The Wolves led by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, but Edwards had a bad turnover on an inbounds play to give Harper a dunk and missed two box outs of Julian Champagnie to let the Spurs back in the game. Champagnie missed a 3 at the buzzer that would have won the game.
“Just game plan mistakes that won’t happen again,” Edwards said.
After the game, optimism pulsed through the Timberwolves’ locker room. The defense that shut down Denver’s No. 1-ranked offense in the first round just held Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox to 10-of-31 shooting, including 0 of 12 from 3. Minnesota also gave up 27 fast-break points to San Antonio, missed nine free throws and had a hard time adjusting to the presence in the paint of Wembanyama, who blocked 12 shots.
The Wolves know they can play a lot better. But their biggest reason for belief stems from knowing that No. 5 is back doing what he loves to do most — walking into an enemy arena and going at it with the five guys on the floor and the 19,000 in the stands.
“I mean, everybody in the arena is against us,” Edwards said. “I think that’s the best thing. … Chanting ‘Go Spurs Go’ and doing all that. I’m with Minnesota. I got Minnesota back at all times.”
He will be back for more in Game 2 on Wednesday. Not because he wants to, but because he needs to.
By Jon Krawczynski, via The Athletic