GP2 guides Warriors to victory by smothering Edwards in crucial time originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – With the Warriors leading by six and under 10 minutes, the streaking Minnesota Timberwolves called on their fire brand leader. Anthony Edwards walked to the scorer’s table with one task: to get his team to the finish line.
The Warriors responded immediately and called up Gary Payton II. The defensive specialist checked in for one purpose: don’t let Edwards take his team home.
Payton graduated at the platinum level. Diving into Edwards’ jersey, GP2 provided much of the pressure that stifled Minnesota’s offense Sunday night, allowing the Warriors to walk off the Chase Center floor with a stirring 114-106 win.
“They were aggressive against him,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of the Payton-led defense on Edwards.
That aggression was optimally increased when necessary. The Warriors had seen Edwards’ work two nights earlier, when he scorched them to 30 points — 11 in the fourth quarter — in a 107-90 win. They didn’t mind seeing an encore.
“Ant is an unbelievable player,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Edwards. “Late in the third quarter he had it going. At that point you just put your best defender on him. You don’t really want to send a double team because other guys are knocking down shots. . . we just wanted Gary to play him straight, give him some help in the gaps, trying to hustle things up without double-teaming.
With Payton as the primary defender, Edwards picked his spot and was effective through three quarters, scoring 24 points on 9-for-12 shooting, including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Payton’s main impact was forcing turnovers, as Edwards committed four to three quarters.
However, Edwards’ fourth quarter was one he would like to forget. Payton victimized him with a steal 24 seconds after he came on and another with 1:01 left, leading to a Buddy Hield 3-pointer that gave the Warriors a 112-106 lead. In addition to the two late turnovers, Edwards was 1-of-7 from the field in the fourth.
“Probably tougher than Friday night,” Payton said, recalling Edwards’ heroics. “A guy like him, you can’t make him feel comfortable early. I’m just trying to disrupt him and get him to work earlier in the game. Just try to wear him down, wear him out. He was shooting. Then at the end, buckle up and play.”
With the race on the line, GP2 was in Edwards’ hair like new dye. The Warriors followed that lead, blocking four shots in the fourth — one of which Payton recorded — and limiting the Timberwolves to 16 points on 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) shooting from the field.
Payton scored on two points in the quarter and shot 1-for-4 from the field, but none had more impact in keeping Minnesota from making a move.
“He just has a way of finding out,” Stephen Curry said. ‘And the last five minutes of tonight. . . He played well all game, but in those last five minutes he tried to scare Anthony Edwards as much as he could, that’s who he is.”
With Andrew Wiggins out with a right ankle impingement, Kerr shuffled the lineup. Alongside Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga and Curry, Buddy Hield got his first start of the season. Payton was in the starting lineup for the third time.
“Without Wiggs, we wanted to start Gary on Ant and have our best defender with him straight away,” said Kerr. “Gary is also historically very good with Steph. And then we felt like we had to get Buddy up and running, and the best way to do that is to put him in that group.
The decision to start GP2 started with a suggestion from Pabail Sidhu, the team’s analytics and innovation guru. In addition to the usually strong numbers when Payton and Curry share the court, there was also, well, that Edwards guy.
Asked about the key to the fourth quarter that devastated the Timberwolves, Kerr didn’t hesitate.
“Gari. Also the help behind him,” he said. “Draymond and JK both made good plays at the rim. Thanks to Draymond’s help, Gary can keep the pressure on Edwards and trust that he has help behind him. Gary was just brilliant tonight.”
Edwards, 23, is one of the rising faces of the NBA. Vibrant, athletic enough to compete in every dunk contest and lead the league in 3-point shooting. He was great for three quarters.
The fourth, however, belonged to Payton, a basketball vagabond until he ended up with the Warriors at age 29 three years ago. And someone who didn’t see his last start of the season.
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