Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards preparing for whatever Lakers throw at them

A lot of talk about the Lakers-Timberwolves NBA playoff series will revolve around the physical makeup of the teams. Specifically, the Wolves will have a size advantage in the series, and will they be able to exploit that?

But a lot of the on-court dynamics will also boil down to the mental aspect of the game, as point guard Mike Conley underscored Tuesday when talking about Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

“They’re three of the smartest players you’ll play against and have some of the best abilities to play off of each other and just read a game,” Conley said. “So you can prepare all you want, put schemes together all you want, they can do stuff in real time and adjust to it.”

On the other side, this series is going to test that same ability in Wolves guard Anthony Edwards, who, in his fifth season will be participating in his fourth postseason. Edwards has seen a lot of different coverages, especially in the playoffs. The Wolves are gearing up for the Lakers to defend Edwards a lot of different ways and not just stick to one coverage, and Edwards is going to have to be as flexible and quick to read the game as his counterparts if the Wolves are going to win the series.

“He’s got to be able to grow up right in front of us and be able to handle what he’s about to experience,” Conley said. “It’s going to be a lot of trying to get the ball out of his hands. They’re going to try to be smarter than us, they’re going to try to outwit us in a lot of different areas. He’s got to be patient, he’s got to be able to be thinking ahead of the game.”

The opener of the best-of-seven series is Saturday night (7:30, Ch. 5) in Los Angeles.

As Conley said, James is able to read the game “two or three layers deep.” Edwards will have to have that command of the series.

Edwards has found an extra gear in the playoffs each season. Even in series the Wolves have lost, Edwards has put up big numbers. Last season, he excelled at finding the right balance between making the right play when faced with double teams and finding room for himself to score. That’s how the Wolves made it to the Western Conference finals.

But this time around, the leap Edwards might have to make is in the mental aspect of the game.

“His recognition of what’s going on has gotten better and better,” coach Chris Finch said. “His ability and timing of making the right play and the right read has gotten better and better. His frustrations about how teams guard him, I think he now embraces it. So the maturity around it has gotten better.”

That will be especially important late in games if the Lakers try to confuse him in those situations. Conley said Edwards has recognized the challenge in front of him.