Anthony Edwards used ESPN and Paul Pierce’s forecasts as fuel to dump Lakers out of playoffs

Anthony Edwards heard the ESPN pundits and Paul Pierce—and used their words as fuel to torch the Lakers and shut them up.

Anthony Edwards used ESPN and Paul Pierce’s forecasts as fuel to dump Lakers out of playoffs

Anthony Edwards used ESPN and Paul Pierce's predictions as fuel to defeat Los Angeles Lakers (Image via NBA/X)

When LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Los Angeles Lakers drew the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, many felt they were going to win it easily. Fans and members of the media believed Anthony Edwards and his teammates stood no chance against the playoff veterans.

The logic behind it was not out of place, considering Doncic had just defeated this very team in the Western Conference Finals last season. Analysts remembered how Edwards and his teammates did not have an answer for the Slovenian and expected this series to be similar.

At the same time, they also saw how the men in purple and gold ran up the highly competitive Western Conference to finish third. They believed this team, under first-year head coach JJ Redick, was turning a corner.

All of this led several ESPN analysts to predict that the Lakers would win the series in either 6 or seven games. They were not as hopeful as Lakers fan Shannon Sharpe, who always believed his team would win a playoff series in five games. But it was still enough to become the fuel that drove Anthony Edwards.

Stephen A., he had all the writers like, they get a vote. They had Lakers in 6, Lakers in 7, Lakers in 5. You know what really turned me up? Paul Pierce. He ain’t gonna be barking up that room for Luka like that, there’s gonna be a little more respect.

Anthony Edwards said

These words were in the trailer for the next YouTube episode of Anthony Edwards‘ vlogs. It is clear from that conversation that Ant Man heard what the ESPN journalists were saying. He also heard what Paul Pierce said. Those two managed to fuel him to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers and shut them up for good.

Paul Pierce believes Anthony Edwards won the series at the Paris Olympics

Paul Pierce might not have seen this trailer yet. But he has seemingly changed his opinion. The NBA Champion has seen enough to understand where Anthony Edwards got it right. While speaking on Speak on FS1, he explained how it came to this.

Paul Pierce believes Anthony Edwards learnt how to defeat LeBron James at the Paris Olympics
Paul Pierce believes Anthony Edwards learned how to defeat LeBron James at the Paris Olympics (Image via USA Basketball/X)

This game was lost in the summer. Ant-Man went to the Olympics. He got up under KD (Kevin Durant), he got up under LeBron. He studied them; he not only studied their work habits, but he studied their personality. So now if I gotta see y’all, I know how to attack y’all.

Paul Pierce said

Pierce believes Edwards now has the know-how to beat these veteran superstars. Last year, his Timberwolves steamrolled Kevin Durant‘s Phoenix Suns. But the Los Angeles Lakers were always a problem.

At the Paris Olympics, the 23-year-old watched two Lakers superstars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. That helped him learn a lot, and he implemented it during this playoff series. Pierce cited an example where Edwards was pushing James around. He believes that it would not have happened if he had not figured it out in the summer.

Pierce’s colleague believes Game 5 was ‘hideous’

Paul Pierce’s colleagues caught on to that logic of Anthony Edwards learning the tendencies of LeBron James at the Paris Olympics. But Speak host Joy Taylor was appalled by how bad Game 5 was in terms of the quality of basketball.

This was a hideous game of basketball from both teams! I couldn’t wait for that game to be over… The Timberwolves shot 7-47 from 3 and the Lakers still lost.

Joy Taylor said

The recently named in a lawsuit, Joy Taylor, brought up statistics to prove her point. She believes the Los Angeles Lakers were under the weather as they could not defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves despite that horrible shooting night. Taylor was thankful that the series had ended, as she believed the Lakers would have struggled even more had the series extended.

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