Anthony Edwards may not be the best player to come out of Georgia, as the point guard said Walt “Clyde” Frazier told him during pregame warmups.

However, he was the best player at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

The Timberwolves had a strong shooting night, with the two-time All-Star leading the charge by scoring 36 points. He made 12 out of 21 field goal attempts to help Minnesota secure a 116-99 victory against the Knicks, bringing their win-loss record back to .500.

In addition to his impressive scoring performance, he also contributed 13 rebounds and seven assists. These stats were instrumental in preventing the Knicks from defeating the Timberwolves, a team that includes two former players – Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo – who were traded for Karl-Anthony Towns.

Reflecting on his performance after the game, Edwards expressed satisfaction. He revealed that his motivation stemmed from a text message he received from his best friend before the match. The message highlighted some negative comments circulating in the media about him, even though Edwards himself avoids social media. The text challenged him with a simple question, “Whatcha gonna do?” This message spurred Edwards to step up his game on the court in response to his friend’s unexpected motivational push.

The 2020 No. 1 pick didn’t start out hot, however. He shot 1-for-7 in the first quarter before getting into a rhythm.

But nothing was more notable than Edwards’ show-stopping dunk to make the game 96-89 with nearly 7 minutes to go.

He beat Jalen Brunson, who was helping off of a pick, driving into the paint and going over Precious Achiuwa for the wild poster dunk. In the three minutes prior to the basket, the Timberwolves went on an 11-2 run, and Edwards scored or assisted on all 11 points.

Edwards also was lethal from deep, shooting 8-for-13, which has been an improvement for him this season.

He is shooting more (9.9 3s per game) and making more (42.3 percent) this year compared to his 35 percent on 6.7 attempts a year ago.

“He’s really committed to taking more 3s,” coach Chris Finch said prior to the game. “We’ve always been telling him he is really good at it. He used to pass up a lot of open 3s to kind of maybe play with the ball in a different rhythm. He’s got to shoot 3s. Always been a great weapon, and now he just trusts it more.”