Anthony Edwards tells Jamal Murray: 'We love that; keep talking' - ESPN

MINNEAPOLIS — With the clock winding down in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 115-107 Game 4 loss to the Denver Nuggets — finishing a disastrous homestand during which the Wolves handed back the two-game Western Conference semifinals lead they had built on the defending champs — Anthony Edwards looked defiant rather than defeated.

As the 22-year-old Minnesota star crossed directions with Denver's Jamal Murray near the sideline, he clapped his hands, nodded his head and kept his gaze fixed on the Nuggets point guard while he delivered a message.

«I just told his ass we love that,» said Edwards, who scored a game-high 44 points. "'Keep talking [like] that. That's what we like.' Well, I loved it. He didn't say nothing back. But I'm pretty sure he heard me. They heard me. You live for that."

Edwards made plenty of noise with his play before that, topping the 40-point plateau for the second time in the series and the third time this postseason as he shot 16-for-25 from the field (64%), 5-for-8 from 3 (62.5%) and 7-for-8 from the foul line (87.5%).

The rest of his team combined to shoot 40.4% overall, 30% from 3 and 57.9% on free throws. The Wolves now head back to Denver with the series tied 2-2.

Murray, who scored 13 of his 19 points from the final two seconds of the first half through the first four and a half minutes of the third quarter — including a buzzer-beating 3 from 55 feet out to end the second quarter — did not comment on the exchange with Edwards.

But he did speak on the challenge of containing the Wolves shooting guard, who is averaging 33.3 points on 60.4% shooting through the first four games.

«He's downhill, he's tough to guard, he's explosive,» Murray said. «He's always in attack mode, you know what I'm saying?