He was the star of the show for Team USA at the Etihad Arena in August, but high-scoring Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards was not on court to repeat his heroics against the Dallas Mavericks in a sold-out Etihad Arena on Thursday night.
Edwards, so impressive in the same building for Team USA against Germany just six weeks before, was ruled out ahead of the game against the Mavericks with a left ankle sprain in the first of an NBA Abu Dhabi Games double-header in the UAE capital.
But if the fans missed Edwards, Minnesota barely felt his absence as they rolled over the Dallas Mavericks for a 111-99 victory in front of NBA legends including Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Gary Payton and Ray Allen at courtside.
In August, Edwards hit 34 points in a 99-91 comeback win against a Germany side who have since won the Fiba Basketball World Cup in the Philippines.
Without him, the T-Wolves ran out to an early 25-7 lead in the first quarter behind a balanced attack, with nine from Karl-Anthony Towns.
UAE fans did get a show from Dallas’s own scoring star Luka Doncic, who filled up the stat sheet with 25 points for the losing side. Doncic, a one-man show for Dallas, finished the first period with 14 as his team trailed by 18.
Minnesota poured in 66 points by the end of the first half behind 18 points for forward Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished the game with 20.
In the second half, Dallas emptied the bench, replacing their starters with reserves in a desperate bid to reignite the game as a contest.
And the tactic worked for a while as the Mavs pulled it within eight in the third quarter.
But the Abu Dhabi crowd’s calls of ‘We want Kyrie’, referring to the Mavericks’ other star Kyrie Irving, were ignored by his coach. Irving played just 14 minutes on Thursday, scoring two points.
And the Mavs comeback proved short-lived as Minnesota again pulled away in the fourth, sealing a straightforward victory in Abu Dhabi.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said he hoped Edwards would return for game two in Abu Dhabi.
“He tweaked his ankle yesterday, got a little stiff. But we hope to see him Saturday,” he said.
Finch called the Abu Dhabi crowd “outstanding”.
“You could feel the buzz starting to build around the game,” he said. “It felt much more than a pre-season game.
“The crowd was outstanding and I thought both teams gave them a show from the first time out of the gate.
“We knew it was going to be a sell-out, a great atmosphere. We knew they [the fans] were going to show up for us. The excitement around these games is special given that it’s only a pre-season game. The fans are really lapping it up right now.
“I really liked the way we played with purpose. We played like a big team. Defensively, we were super active and we really shared the ball.”
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said he would take positives from the defeat.
“I think this trip is a positive to be here to play against Minnesota to play these two games,” he said. “Normally we would be at home but this gives us the chance to spend that time together, not just on the court but off it too.”
Kidd said he hoped his star guards Doncic and Irving would spend more time on the court on Saturday.
“We have a game plan for those two,” he said. “We have talked to those two about their minutes, we will hopefully see their minutes go up on Saturday. This is a long season. We want the public to see Luka and Kye play. They are not going to play 48 minutes but hopefully they will play more.”
Doncic said he was happy with his limited game time after just 16 minutes on the court on Thursday.
He said: “It’s obviously a pre-season game. The key is to get better, but not to get injured too. I am going to play a lot of minutes this season. But it was great tonight and the crowd was great.”
