As Anthony Edwards walked back to the locker room at halftime of Saturday’s game, he hung his head, and the sweat dripped from his face. The Minnesota Timberwolves were down 69-44 on the road against the San Antonio Spurs.

Minnesota had just played the night before on the road, losing 110-105 to the Houston Rockets. The Wolves had every excuse to roll over Saturday and take the beatdown at the Frost Bank Center. A left hip contusion sidelined Rudy Gobert, and Naz Reid left early in the first half with a shoulder injury and didn’t return.

At halftime on Saturday, Ant could have sensed that he needed to put up one of those magical performances that he’s done numerous times in the past. Like most stars of his caliber, Edwards can and is expected to carry his team when they need him the most. But Ant’s takeovers are different than other stars around the league.

It’s not just Edwards’ ability to take over; it’s how he does it. He has a unique ability to hit the kind of shots that elicit the what did I just witness? reaction from those who know him well, which inspires magic in the Wolves.

With three minutes left in the fourth, Anthony Edwards drilled a triple to give the Timberwolves a lead after they trailed by 25 points in the first half. It was a clean look — relatively “easy” for Ant’s capabilities — thanks to Joan Beringer’s screen. Still, Jaylen Clark couldn’t believe what he was watching from the bench.

Clark was awestruck because the three gave Edwards 13 points over the previous two minutes. He was up to 51 points on the night. Ant was on a boomlet of breathtaking excellence, and the Wolves were back into a game they had no business winning.

Ultimately, however, the Wolves fell 126-123 to the Spurs despite Edwards finishing with a career-high 55 points, 26 of which came in the fourth quarter.

“Phenomenal,” Chris Finch said about Edwards’ performance. “Obviously, I thought he got to the three-point line pretty easily, and got a lot of really good looks. His teammates did a really good job screening for him. Made big shot after big shot. He was inspirational tonight.”

In Houston, the Wolves missed that inspiration. Anthony Edwards was sitting out his second-straight game with a right toe infection, and Minnesota crumbled down the stretch of a winnable game.

Houston outscored Minnesota 9-3 in clutch time, and the Timberwolves attempted only one shot in clutch time because they turned the ball over twice. In the fourth quarter overall, the Wolves committed 8 turnovers. They also missed 15 free throws in Houston, three off from a franchise record. They missed six of them in the fourth quarter alone.

Those are the kind of unforced errors that make it almost impossible to win when you’re down your best player. No boomlet of excellence was coming to save the Wolves in Houston, although Julius Randle did score 39 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

The Wolves needed to collectively close that game with the same level of maturity they showed in the first quarter, when they took as much as a 12-point lead. Instead, Randle, Reid, and Gobert committed two turnovers each in the fourth, and the Wolves lacked composure in the final stages of the game.

Minnesota struggled with clutch-time offense earlier in the season. Before Thanksgiving, the Wolves were 3-4 in clutch-time games, posting a 95.5 offensive rating, which ranked 25th league-wide. Minnesota also had the NBA’s worst turnover percentage (26.5%) in the clutch at that time. However, since then, the Timberwolves are 8-5 in clutch-time games with the sixth-highest offensive rating (127.7).

The Wolves have gone from a liability in the clutch to a team no opponent wants to face in a shootout. The drastic flip has come in direct unison with Edwards becoming more comfortable as the primary ball handler while converting the same magical shots that he’s been a threat to make for years.

Anthony Edwards hit five triples in the fourth quarter against the Spurs. Four of them were the type of shots that you think have no chance of going in because they were defended perfectly, but still fall. Those are the magical ones that feel like they are worth more than three points.

When Ant is doing what he did in San Antonio, the defense’s only hope is to force the ball out of his hands. But even when the doubles come, Edwards and the Wolves find ways to get the ball back to him. And from there, no one-on-one defender can stop him.

Star players take over games in the fourth quarter all the time. But Edwards’ takeovers simply feel different. His contested haymakers impact the game differently than layups, free throws, mid-range shots, or even wide-open threes. The shots supercharge his team and instill fear in the opponent because they are downright captivating. They are loud. They change the momentum of a game within an instant.

More than anything, those haymakers are unguardable.

The shots that Ant takes in the clutch are objectively “bad” attempts. Well, they would be for most players in the league, but not Edwards. He has scored 90 points in clutch time this season, the fourth-most league-wide. He’s also done it by taking “bad” shots and shooting 33 of 46 (71.7%) from the floor and 11 of 18 (61%) from deep.

Minnesota came up just short against the Spurs, dropping both games of their back-to-back in the Lone Star State. Victor Wembanyama did his thing, responding to Edwards’ haymakers and scoring 12 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter.

Maybe these past two losses come back to bite the Wolves later in the season, but probably not. Minnesota has already won the head-to-head tiebreaker against San Antonio and still has to play the Rockets twice more.

Ultimately, Anthony Edwards further solidified his late-game greatness — and how important it is to the Timberwolves — during this back-to-back. No matter how many players are out, how tired the team may be, or how difficult the opponent, there is a magic in this Wolves team when No. 5 is on the court. Not just because Edwards can drop over 20 points in the fourth quarter, but because he can do it with the most improbable and unstoppable shots.

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