Anthony Edwards leaves bench with nearly 8 minutes remaining after Timberwolves pull starters in blowout loss

With his Timberwolves trailing by 29 points in the fourth quarter Wednesday, head coach Chris Finch waved the white flag and pulled his starters.

Anthony Edwards had seen enough. During an ensuing timeout, he tossed his towel in frustration, left the bench and headed into the tunnel with 7:52 remaining. He did not return to watch the rest of Minnesota’s 126-102 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. 

After the game, Edwards didn’t speak with reporters. 

Finch did. And he admonished Edwards’ exit and said that he should have remained on the sideline for the rest of the game. 

“Obviously frustrated with the performance and rightfully so, but he needs to stay out on the floor and root for his team,” Finch said, per the Minnesota Star Tribune. 

Edwards led the Timberwolves with 30 in the loss. He apparently wanted to keep playing and decided to leave the court altogether when he found out that his night was done. But his reasoning isn’t clear since he didn’t speak with media. 

The loss for the Timberwolves was their third in four games, one of the worst stretches of their season amid a 21-13 start. They have two games to let the dust settle before taking on the Miami Heat Saturday for the third game of a four-game road trip.