Karalis: On Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, and the maturity necessary to be a winner

This was billed as a potential NBA Finals preview, with the champion Boston Celtics in town to face an underperforming, yet promising Minnesota Timberwolves team trying to build on a run to the Western Conference Finals. More so, it was Jayson Tatum versus Anthony Edwards, two of the league’s most marketable superstars. 

But by the time the Target Center doors were locked, the story of this game was maturity versus immaturity. It was about a young superstar who learned the game is bigger than himself, and a younger one who is miles away from figuring that out. 

Tatum took 27 shots, 17 of them from 3, on his way to a 33-point night that made Edwards jealous. Edwards only scored 15, shooting 16 times in the face of tight Boston defense and occasional double-teams. After the game, as Tatum was spreading the credit around, Edwards sat at his locker and ranted about how much he hates passing to his teammates. 

“That was a good brand of basketball, but it’s not how I want to play,” Edwards said when he was asked about the third quarter where Minnesota out-scored Boston 34-29 with him racking up five assists but no points. “I mean, I’m only 23. I don’t want to just be passing the ball all night … but the way that they guarded me, I think that I had to.”

Incredible. There's so much to unpack. 

Edwards admits that it was good basketball, but he doesn’t want to play good basketball. He wants to play Anthony Edwards basketball first, and then good basketball if he has to. He is, of course, only 23. 

That's way too young to realize that passing the ball to your teammates and having them score a bunch is the best way to prevent double teams. 

That's way too young to accept that being the team’s best player comes with responsibilities besides getting yours.

That's way too young to understand that you’re just announcing to every other team that the best way to frustrate you is do exactly what the Celtics just did. 

Asked how hard it was to stay engaged during this defensive plan, he said “Super hard. Super hard. Super hard. Super hard. I mean, because I’m wired to score the ball. …  I don't know if, like, their plan is like, let's mentally take him out, but because they don't, like, take me all the way out the game, but it definitely frustrates me a little bit.” 

While Achilles sulked in his tent, Tatum calmly showed off the best had to offer, having learned all the lessons sitting in front of Minnesota’s petulant star. Take, for example, Tatum’s pass to Neemias Queta with Boston up three and the Timberwolves making a push. 

The fist pump after the play, which led to a timeout, says it all. It was the right play at the right time, making Minnesota pay for a defensive decision to try to take the game out of his hands. 

When it came time to close the game out, Tatum got some of his shots, but Derrick White got more. White was the one shutting the door on Minnesota and Tatum gladly gave him the credit. 

“Derrick is so important to our team,” he said. “We're just very fortunate to have a guy like D-White that can handle the ball, take guys off the dribble, obviously, he's an excellent shooter, things he does on defensive end.  He’s just a big-time player. He made some big-time plays late in the game.”

Tatum has never complained about being asked to facilitate for his teammates. Neither, for that matter, has Jaylen Brown, who has also shown a great ability to make plays for others. In the few games Tatum has missed, Brown gladly stepped into that role, dishing assists knowing that winning games is more than a one-person job.

Sure, Tatum scored a bunch in this game, making up for some of the production lost without Brown. But his nine assists in this game, and countless others every time he’s been blitzed and doubled, make it tougher for teams to employ that as a strategy. Teams are figuring out that sending two to Tatum might take Boston’s star out of the play, but it also takes two defenders out of it, too. And Boston will gladly have some fun playing four-on-three. 

Edwards can’t say the same. He struggled with Boston’s defense and didn’t try to hide his frustration. He’s still in the ‘I want to win my way’ stage of his career, which isn’t unusual. Talented guys like Edwards often need time to understand what Tatum and Brown have learned. No superstar can do it alone, not even charismatic guys with good smiles and great highlights. All that's good for right now is likes on Instagram and selling soda. 

Winning basketball is team basketball, which is what the Celtics showed on Thursday night in Minneapolis. It’s what they showed all last year on their way to a championship. And if they keep playing like that, they could double their hardware this spring. 

Edwards? Well, he’s lucky his front office screwed up with the Julius Randle trade, because a bulk of the blame is pointed elsewhere. But maybe that will change now that Edward has announced that he’s playing for Me-nnisota, not Minnesota. 

And to be fair, he’s not wrong when he invokes his age as an explanation. I don’t know a lot of 23-year-olds who don’t see themselves as the center of their own universes. We expect these athletes to be more mature than their age, but fame and fortune at such a young age can do more to arrest development than accelerate it. Edwards is proof. 

He’s very much still a kid. He wants things his way, and when he doesn’t get them, he pouts. He’s Veruca Salt, a bad egg who needs to learn a lesson. Tatum is, aptly, Charlie Bucket, who is happy to do the right thing in the end. 

Sometimes you have to give something up to win the big prize. It’s an important lesson to learn, but it won’t be happening in Minnesota any time soon.