Three Games, Three Blowouts: Edwards Takes the NBA's Hottest Start Into Cleveland

There are fast starts, and then there is what Minnesota has done to the first week of the NBA season.

The Timberwolves beat Miami by 25 on the road in their opener. They beat Orlando by 22 on the road on Friday. On Sunday, in their first home game, they beat Toronto by 23. Toronto played that one without Kawhi Leonard, a late scratch with swelling in his left knee. Three games, three wins, every one of them by at least 20 points — a start only two teams in the history of the league have ever made: the 1962-63 Boston Celtics and the 2004-05 Utah Jazz. It is also Minnesota’s first 3–0 start in seven years.

Tonight, in Cleveland, comes the first honest question of the season: does it travel on no rest?

The how of the streak matters as much as the what. This has not been one star dragging a team uphill. Anthony Edwards hung 45 on Miami — a franchise record for a season opener — then had a 5-for-23 night in Orlando and Minnesota won by 22 anyway, because the depth is real: LaMelo Ball, Jaden McDaniels, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Jonathan Kuminga have all taken turns detonating quarters. On Sunday the Wolves won the third quarter against Toronto 35–15, held Scottie Barnes scoreless on 0-for-12 shooting, and got 26 from Edwards in 28 minutes. Only Rudy Gobert and McDaniels played more than 28 minutes. For the second night of a back-to-back, that is the freshest a 3–0 team can reasonably be.

“We’re pretty much just being us, following the game plan,” Ball said. “The coaches make it easy and we just follow them.” Ball, who is averaging 16.0 points and 6.3 assists, played only 17 minutes Sunday because of foul trouble — and Minnesota outscored Toronto by 33 with him on the floor. Coach Chris Finch has pointed at the defense: “Our ball contain continues to be strong and our fly-around is really good. We’re kind of stuffing up the paint a little bit, and we did a good job getting out and contesting (3-pointers).”

The duel at the top of the scouting report is as clean as it gets this early: Edwards, averaging 28.7 points a night, against Donovan Mitchell, averaging 27.0. Mitchell has help — he, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are combining for 63.5 points a night on 58.4% shooting — and Cleveland is at home with a day of rest Minnesota didn’t get.

What Cleveland also has is a flaw, and it’s the reason this game is a test instead of a coronation. Building leads has not been the Cavaliers’ problem. Keeping them has. Two nights into the season they had already blown a 29-point lead in a 114–106 opening loss at Philadelphia, and on Saturday they ran a 22-point lead over Brooklyn all the way down to two points in the closing seconds before escaping 125–121.

“No disrespect to Brooklyn, but it’s not Philly, you know what I mean?” Mitchell said. “There are certain things that we were able to get away with because they were young and they’re still figuring themselves out. It sucks that’s the way it’s been the first two games, but it’s something to clean up, something to work on. … It builds character, too. You find out what you’re made of.” Coach Kenny Atkinson put part of it on conditioning: “Part of this is we’re not in elite condition right now, which is kind of normal. It’s the second game. Getting in a rhythm, we’re not there.”

One honest watch item rides along with Minnesota: Edwards’ right knee. Watching Sunday’s game, Bring Me The Sports noted Edwards favoring the knee more than once — grabbing at it after a dunk, and taking a moment on the ground after a foul in transition before teammates helped him up. He has history there: right-knee inflammation cost him time last season, and he took about two months off this summer to let his knees heal. None of it slowed the production — 45, then 26 in 28 minutes, with multiple dunks Sunday. But Edwards skipped his postgame media availability Sunday to get treatment before the team flew to Cleveland, and Jon Krawczynski, the Timberwolves’ beat writer for The Athletic, put his status for tonight at “could go either way.”

That’s the shape of the night. A team that has spent a week winning by 20-plus goes on the road, on no rest, against a contender whose only proven weakness is finishing the games it controls. If Minnesota’s start is real, this is where it shows. If Cleveland’s flaw is real, this is where it shows, too.

Tip: 4:00 PM PT, Rocket Arena, Cleveland — NBA League Pass.

Season lines via the Previously Stats Hub — Edwards through 3 games, Mitchell through 2.

Odds

From the Previously odds board, Monday morning.

• Spread: Cavaliers −3.5 (−112) · Timberwolves +3.5 (−108)
• Moneyline: Cavaliers −162 · Timberwolves +136
• Total: 233.5 — Over −108 · Under −112

By the Numbers

• 3 — teams in NBA history to open a season with three straight 20-point wins: the 1962-63 Celtics, the 2004-05 Jazz, and now Minnesota
• 25 / 22 / 23 — the Wolves’ margins at Miami, at Orlando and against Toronto
• 28.7 vs 27.0 — Edwards’ and Mitchell’s scoring averages entering the duel
• 29 — points of lead Cleveland blew in its opening loss at Philadelphia; it nearly blew 22 more against Brooklyn on Saturday
• 35–15 — Minnesota’s third quarter against Toronto on Sunday
• 11 — straight home openers won by the Timberwolves after Sunday’s rout