"Never seen Julius play defense before" - Anthony Edwards subtly roasts teammate Julius Randle for "guarding his a** off"
Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards subtly roasted his teammate, Julius Randle, while complimenting Naz Reid and Randle's defensive ability after their matchup against the Golden State Warriors on Friday. As reported by Timberwolves insider Chris Hine, Edwards humorously expressed that he was surprised to see Randle playing defense as a manner of putting across a point.
"Naz and Julius is f**kin' playing defense," Edwards said. "You know, I've never see (Julius) play defense before. That's f**king incredible, and he's right here, put the camera on him. He be guarding his a** off."
Friday's game concluded with the Timberwolves securing a 107-90 victory over the Warriors. Anthony Edwards led their victory charge with 30 points, four rebounds, nine assists, one steal and two blocks. Julius Randle added 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a steal.
Randle previously struggled on the defensive end for the Timberwolves but has seen improvement in the past few contests. His defensive rating improved from 120 in the first 18 games of the season to 89.2 in the previous four matchups.
Anthony Edwards "soft" comments were seemingly just what the Timberwolves needed
Following the Minnesota Timberwolves loss to the Sacramento Kings on Nov. 27, Anthony Edwards aired his team's issues to reporters. The defeat marked the fourth consecutive loss for the Timberwolves, and Edwards had seemingly reached boiling point as he didn't hold back on criticism of the team.
"We've been trying to figure this out for the whole year, man," Edwards said. "We thought defense was our identity, and it's not looking like it at all. Our identity right now, me and Mike were talking about it, I think is we're soft as h---. Like, the team, internally. Not to the other team, but internally we're soft.
"We can't talk to each other. It's a bunch of little kids, just like we're playing with a bunch of little kids. Like, the whole team. We just can't talk to each other, and we've got to figure it out, man. Because we can't go down this road."
Further, when asked what the team could do to get better, Anthony Edwards simply suggested that the team should follow the game plan and stick to what the coach told them to do.
Before Edwards' blunt comments, the Minnesota Timberwolves had previously won just three of their last 10 games. Since then, the Timberwolves have won four straight matchups to improve to a 12-10 record and have climbed to the ninth spot in the Western Conference.