Anthony Edwards is the MVP of the 2024 NBA Playoffs

Plenty of interesting stories have come from the NBA playoffs so far, starting with Nikola Jokic driving the Denver Nuggets’ chase for consecutive championships after receiving a third career MVP in the regular season.Jayson Tatum leading the Boston Celtics to sheer dominance to a berth in the Eastern Conference finals. On full display has been the grit and grind from Luka Doncic to put the Dallas Mavericks on a back that is supported by two bad knees. And whenever New York finds a superhero, as they have in the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, the plaudits will be breathless and frequent. All of the celebration of Brunson’s clutch gene has been well deserved.Anthony Edwards Has Been MVP of 2024 NBA PlayoffsAt the forefront as the present MVP of the playoffs to date: dynamic Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards, whose ascension to the best in the game has been steady and determined.The Timberwolves advanced out of the first round of the playoffs last in 2004. Edwards powered them into the second round in this postseason. He had just 11 games of NBA playoff experience before this season and only three of those games ended in a victory. Yet Edwards has continued to write a new chapter in team history and his own personal arc. In the white-hot lights of the playoffs, Edwards has averaged 30.2 points over 10 games, which is significantly above his 25.9 mark from the regular season.And he has helped the Timberwolves go toe-to-toe against the defending champions, and all of their playoff experience, to force a must-see Game 7 on Sunday. That game will be at Denver, where Minnesota has won twice in this series alone, starting with Game 1 when Edwards had 43 points, his most in a playoff game until he dropped 44 in Game 4.One more victory will get Minnesota into their first Western Conference final in 20 years, with Edwards showing so far that he is up to the task. But the Nuggets stand in the way of their opponent and the sports-loving history of an entire metropolis.The Timberwolves have never advanced to the NBA Finals. Outside of the NBA, the Minnesota Vikings have never won a title in the Super Bowl era and the Minnesota Twins haven’t been champions since 1991, when they played under a Teflon roof. Edwards has let the Twin Cities dream, shooting 53.5 percent from the floor, which again is well over his regular-season mark of 46.1. Of teams remaining in the playoffs, only two players have more than Edwards’ 3.1 made shots from 3-point range per game. And he is shooting 42.5 percent from distance, above his regular-season mark of 35.7 percent.Edwards can’t get through the Nuggets alone. He needs to match whatever show Jokic is sure to put on in Game 7 at home. He needs Karl Anthony-Towns to play to his capabilities and veteran guard Mike Conley to run the operation after he missed Game 5 with an injury. Conley returned after the Game 5 loss and helped Towns and Edwards put up a 45-point victory over Denver in Game 6. A veteran of 17 NBA seasons, Conley knows how this works. He knows that the Timberwolves need their young start to shine.“I’m proud of the way he’s accepted the kind of growth he needed to have to be where he is,” Conley said of Edwards. “It’s not easy for a 22-, 23-year-old to make that adjustment so quickly.”For the record, Edwards is 22. He is just playing like somebody with far more experience, who knows what is required of him.There are others who have more points or rebounds in the playoffs so far. There are bigger and more recognizable names. But Edwards is working to change all that by taking a franchise close to some rarified air. Getting through the champions and into the conference finals is his next step.

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