Timberwolves' Anthony Edwards trusts Jaden McDaniels to take last shot again

In the Timberwolves locker room after Monday's game, Anthony Edwards went over to Jaden McDaniels and said a few words of encouragement as both were getting ready to head out.

McDaniels had the last-gasp shot that fell short for the Wolves in their 126-125 loss to the Jazz.

With Edwards commanding a lot of attention on a drive to the right, McDaniels was wide open in the right corner. Edwards passed him the ball and the forward put up the shot, but it missed as the buzzer sounded.

Edwards had no complaints with the play call or McDaniels' shot after the game.

"Finchy [coach Chris Finch] drew up a great play for me to catch it and have space. I had space," Edwards said. "I beat him going right and I saw Jaden wide open in the corner. He shoots those, he makes those shots. I see him work on them all day in practice. If I had another chance to throw it to him, I'd throw it to him again."

Edwards finished with 29 points and became the youngest player at 21 to hit 500 three-pointers in NBA history — a distinction once held by Wolves point guard D'Angelo Russell, then with the Nets, in 2019. Edwards said he wanted to make sure he picked up McDaniels after the game.

"I went over and told him like, 'Bruh, the next time, if they do the same thing, I'm throwing it again.' He'll be ready next time," Edwards said. "He'll make the next one."

Finch said the last play wasn't what did in the Wolves.

"That wasn't the story of the game," Finch said. "The story of the game was on offense and ability to finish around the paint."

The Wolves were 28-for-52 in the paint. Finch also said he regretted getting a technical in the fourth quarter of what turned out to be a one-point loss.

"That's on me," Finch said. "Not a good technical there. … I was just asking why there was no hold on the roll down. I didn't do it in a disrespectful manner, so I'm not sure why I got it."

The Wolves came in with three players listed as questionable: Edwards (left hip soreness), Taurean Prince (left ankle sprain) and Rudy Gobert, who left Saturday's game because of right groin soreness. All were available to play — but Gobert didn't last long, playing only 4 minutes, 58 seconds before exiting because of the same injury.

Finch wasn't sure when Gobert might be available.

"I know coming into the game he was pretty tender, was going to give it a try," Finch said. "We appreciate that."

Jordan McLaughlin (left calf strain) remains out and Finch did not have an update on McLaughlin's timeframe for return.

"Honestly I couldn't give you clarity on that," Finch said. "I don't think a return is anytime soon."

Traveling calls have soared this season throughout the league. According to Elias, the league has had 1,753 traveling calls entering Monday. That was already more than the league had all of last season (1,557). The Wolves were called for 70 travels last season and have been whistled for 67 so far this year.

Finch said he hasn't sensed a rhyme or reason to the increase in calls. As a result, they coaching staff hasn't tried to make many adjustments with players to avoid traveling.

"It's just so randomly applied," Finch said. "It's not something you want to put into your players' heads. I don't believe we're going to effectively change the way these guys are going to play just because of travel volume calls are up.

"They'll call these slot travels and they may or may not have an impact on the play. But in the post you'll see a guy change pivot foot twice before he shoots. We are mindful of it in certain situations, but mostly we don't overcoach it."