Anthony Edwards did not wait until the final buzzer to congratulate the San Antonio Spurs for getting the best of his Minnesota Timberwolves in their Western Conference semifinals series.
The Spurs completely dominated the Timberwolves in Game 6 in a closeout game at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. The visitors’ lead ballooned to 33 points with 8:01 left in the fourth quarter, which is when Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch decided to pull the plug.
Finch pulled out Minnesota’s rotation players and brought in the team’s third stringers to finish the contest; he was waving the white flag. With his season a few minutes away from being over, Edwards walked the length of the court to congratulate San Antonio’s players with more than half of the fourth quarter left to play.
Anthony Edwards went to the Spurs' bench to congratulate them on winning the series with 8 minutes to go.pic.twitter.com/5HLhHi9GmB
— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) May 16, 2026
“At that point, you know you ain’t going back in, so you’re just trying to get them the respect that they deserve,” Edwards said of the move during his postgame press conference.
The move was controversial to fans and media members alike. While some voiced out their approval of Edwards’ show of sportsmanship, others felt it was a strange time to do it.
NBA on Prime studio analysts Udonis Haslem and Dirk Nowitzki both criticized the move, claiming they would have never done the same with so much time left in the contest.
Edwards had a rough shooting night, going 9/26 for a team-high 24 points. With no-shows from Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle, who combined for just three points, Edwards drew most of the defensive attention in a 139-109 loss.
