Wolves’ Anthony Edwards scores 17 in return from 6-game injury absence as scheduled sixth man

DALLAS (AP) — Minnesota star guard Anthony Edwards scored 17 points playing 23 minutes in the Timberwolves’ 124-94 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night coming off the bench, though that wasn’t the original plan.

Edwards was penciled in the starting lineup and announced to the crowd, but he was nowhere to be seen, replaced at the opening tip by Mike Conley. Edwards finally made his way to the court and checked in 2:01 into play.

Wolves coach Chris Finch provided the simple explanation. “Nature calls,” he said.

“Mike had my back,” Edwards said with a grin.

He said he was “miserable” sitting out, feeling “like a kid in a candy store” upon his return.

“Ant was awesome, man,” Finch said. “His defense was outstanding. Just let the game come to him. Stayed aggressive. Made quicker decisions. And things looked kind of easy for him as a result.”

Edwards, averaging a career-high 29.5 points in 35.5 minutes per game, returned after missing the previous six games with pain in his right knee.

Edwards would need to play in all eight remaining Wolves games to be eligible for All-NBA consideration. He finished seventh in most valuable player voting in each of the last two seasons.

Edwards has played in 58 games, but his 3 minutes, 8 seconds against Indiana on Oct. 26 don’t count toward the NBA’s records for games played.

Minnesota announced earlier Monday that power forward Jaden McDaniels is week-to-week after an MRI revealed left knee patella tendinopathy and a bone bruise. McDaniels, averaging a career-high 14.8 points per game, left Wednesday’s game with the injury and didn’t play Saturday.

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