Anthony Edwards won’t miss the Minnesota Timberwolves’ regular-season finale due to suspension after all.
The NBA announced Saturday a technical foul called on Edwards during Friday’s 117-91 win over the Brooklyn Nets has been rescinded upon review. That would have been Edwards’ 18th technical foul of the season, which carries a one-game suspension and would have kept him from playing in Sunday’s matchup versus the Utah Jazz.
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Any player who has accumulated 16 technical fouls during a season earns a one-game penalty. Every two technicals from that point draws another single-game suspension.
Sunday’s game is an important one for the T-wolves, who can either earn a playoff berth or have to participate in the play-in tournament to earn the No. 7 or 8 seed. Minnesota could also finish as high as fourth in the Western Conference standings, which would mean hosting a first-round playoff series.
The technical foul in question occurred during the second quarter of Friday’s game when Edwards questioned being called for a personal foul while defending Keon Johnson.
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Following the game, Edwards explained what happened and said he hoped the technical would be rescinded to negate a suspension.
“They called a foul and I said, ‘Where was the f***ing foul?’ And he gave me a T,” Edwards said, via BlueWire’s Dane Moore. “I hope they look at it and rescind it so I can play in a couple days.
“I’m praying they rescind it, because I don’t think it should have been a tech. Me and Ray [Acosta] got a good relationship. We talked it out after the fact, but I still don’t feel like I deserved the tech just for that little gesture.”
Crew chief Bill Kennedy told a pool reporter that Edwards was issued a technical for using profanity toward referee Ray Acosta, according to the Associated Press.
Minnesota coach Chris Finch said that he wasn’t given a clear explanation of why the technical was called.
“It didn’t seem like there was anything egregious or overly demonstrative,” he said.
Edwards provided an “egregious” and “demonstrative” example of behavior warranting a technical foul when he was called for his 16th of the season, throwing a basketball into the stands during a Feb. 27 game versus the Los Angeles Lakers.
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The suspension Edwards served for his 16th technical foul also occurred against the Jazz, and the T-wolves lost that Feb. 28 game, 117-116.
Since that suspension, Minnesota has gone 16-4 with winning streaks of eight and five games. The T-wolves will need one more victory Sunday to help move them into better playoff positioning.
