Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The Minnesota Timberwolves lost All-Star Anthony Edwards and fellow starting guard Donte DiVincenzo to first-half injuries on Saturday to take the shine off their 112-96 NBA playoff victory over Denver.
Edwards was left clutching his left knee in pain after rising to block a shot by Denver’s Cam Johnson and coming down awkwardly under the basket. He was helped from the court and made his way to the locker room without putting weight on the leg, and was ruled out for the rest of the game. Edwards, who battled a nagging right knee injury late in the regular season, had connected on just one of eight shot attempts for five points with three rebounds before he departed.
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It piled the injury misery on the Timberwolves, who lost key contributor DiVincenzo less than two minutes into the contest with a lower right leg injury later reported to be a season-ending torn Achilles tendon. DiVincenzo, a workhorse who averaged 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists while playing all 82 games in the regular season, had made a quick step forward and fell to the court in pain, immediately calling for assistance. He left the arena in a wheelchair.
“I feel completely devastated for Donte,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He was playing so well. He’s had such a great season. He’s the heart and soul of so many things that we do. You can just see the look in his eye when it happened, and you kind of knew,” Finch added. “We love him and we’ll be there for him.”
Finch had no update on Edwards. The Timberwolves will try to close out the series in Denver on Monday.
© 2024 AFP
