GP2 leads Warriors to victory by stifling Edwards in crunch time originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – With the Warriors leading by six and less than 10 minutes remaining, the Minnesota Timberwolves, on a roll, turned to their leading firebrand. Antonio Edwards He headed to the scorer’s table with one task: get his team to the finish line.
The Warriors immediately counterattacked, calling up Gary Payton II. The defensive specialist signed on for one purpose: not to let Edwards take his team home.
Payton found success at the platinum level. Diving inside Edwards’ jersey, GP2 created much of the pressure that stifled Minnesota’s offense down the stretch Sunday night, allowing the Warriors to walk off the Chase Center court with a exciting 114-106 victory.
“They were aggressive on him,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of the Payton-led defense on Edwards.
That aggression was brought to the optimal level when it needed to be. The Warriors had seen Edwards work two nights earlier, when he scored 30 points (11 in the fourth quarter) in a 107-90 victory. They didn’t mind seeing an encore.
“Ant is an unbelievable player,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Edwards. “At the end of the third quarter, it was already going. At that point, you simply have to put your best defender on him. You don’t really want to send a double team because you have other guys making shots. . . We just wanted Gary to take him on directly, give him help in the gaps, trying to fill things in without double-teaming.”
With Payton as the primary defender throughout, Edwards picked his spots and was effective for three quarters, scoring 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Payton’s main impact was forcing turnovers, as Edwards committed four to three quarters.
Edwards’ fourth quarter, however, was one he would like to forget. Payton victimized him for a steal 24 seconds after substituting him and another with 1:01 left that led to a Buddy Hield 3-pointer to give the Warriors a 112-106 lead. In addition to the final two turnovers, Edwards was 1 of 7 from the field in the quarter.
“Probably tougher than Friday night,” Payton said, recalling Edwards’ heroics. “A guy like him, you can’t let him get comfortable early. I’m just trying to disrupt him and make him work earlier in the game. Try to keep wearing it down, wearing it down. I was making shots. Then at the end, buckle up and make plays.”
With the match on the line, GP2 was in Edwards’ hair like new dye. The Warriors continued that lead, blocking four shots in the quarter – with Payton scoring one – and held the Timberwolves to 16 points on 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) shooting from the field.
Payton scored two points in the quarter, shooting 1 of 4 from the field, but neither was more impactful in preventing Minnesota from making a move.
“He just has a way of figuring it out,” Stephen Curry said. “And the last five minutes of tonight. . . He played well the whole game, but those last five minutes trying to give Anthony Edwards as much hell as possible, that’s what it is.”
With Andrew Wiggins out with a right ankle impingement, Kerr changed the lineup. In addition to Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga and Curry, Buddy Hield made his first start of the season. Payton was in the starting lineup for the third time.
“Without Wiggs, we wanted to put Gary on Ant and have our best defender on him right away,” Kerr said. “Historically, Gary has also been very good to Steph. And then we felt like we had to get Buddy going, and the best way to do that is to put him with that group.”
The decision to start GP2 began with a suggestion made by Pabail Sidhu, the team’s innovation and analytics guru. In addition to the typically strong numbers when Payton and Curry share the court, there was also, well, that Edwards guy.
Asked about the key to the last quarter that devastated the Timberwolves, Kerr did not hesitate.
“Gary. Also, the help behind it,” he said. “Draymond and JK made good plays at the rim. Draymond’s help allows Gary to keep that pressure on Edwards and trust that he has help behind him. “Gary was just brilliant tonight.”
Edwards, 23, is among the emerging faces of the NBA. Effervescent, athletic enough to take part in any dunk contest and leader of the league in three-pointers. For three quarters he was fantastic.
The fourth, however, belonged to Payton, a basketball vagabond until landing on the Warriors three years ago at age 29. And he hasn’t seen his last start to the season.
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