Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards blasts ‘cheating a– refs,’ says he’ll take a fine after win over Thunder

Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards blasted the league’s referees on Monday night following his team’s 107-101 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, and preemptively accepted a likely fine in the process. 

As the Wolves were celebrating the narrow win over their Northwest division rivals, the broadcast caught Edwards yelling about “cheating ass refs.”

He didn’t stop there, though. During his post-game interview on the court, Edwards expanded on his criticisms of the officiating during Monday’s game. 

“I don’t know [how we got it done],” Edwards said. “And I’m gonna take the fine, because the refs did not give us no calls tonight. We had to play through every bump, every grab. I don’t know. I don’t know how we won tonight. Big shoutout to my team, big shoutout to my coaches, for sure.” 

The fouls calls were just about even, with 19 called on the Wolves and 17 on the Thunder. Likewise, there wasn’t a massive disparity in regard to free throws, though the Thunder did have an edge with 22 compared to 15. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is fourth in the league at 9.2 free throws per game, accounted for 16 of the Thunder’s attempts from the line. 

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch made a passing comment regarding that stat. “We had a lot of guys to throw at Shai, he’s a tough cover,” Finch said. “Every night you look he goes to the line 15, 16 times, it’s kinda tough to guard him if that’s the case. But we did a pretty good job of just mixing it up.” Otherwise, though, Finch didn’t have anything to say about the officiating.

Edwards isn’t the first person to criticize the refs this season and he won’t be the last. Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown recently received a $50,000 fine for his on-court and post-game antics after a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. That was an extreme example, however. Edwards’ comments fall more in line with those made by Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic earlier this month, which resulted in a $25,000 fine. 

With the win, the Timberwolves reclaimed sole possession of first place in the Western Conference and have the second-best record in the league. At 33-14, they are half a game up on the defending champion Denver Nuggets and one game up on the Thunder.