Nikola Jokic is best in the world, Anthony Edwards taking final steps in growth

Not too long from now basketball fans may be recalling the 2024 playoff series that pitted the two best players in the world against each other: Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards.

Edwards has forced himself into the conversation as one of the best players in the game, but he still has to prove he belongs in the same class as Jokic, LeBron James and the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic. And he just might be taking those final steps in front of a national audience.

“Yeah, I would say he’s pretty much right now,” Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said when asked Monday morning if Edwards is playing at a level as high as anyone Finch has coached in his life. “He’s playing certainly at the highest level he’s ever played.”

Finch, lying on a couch in Denver with his leg elevated and wrapped in ice following surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon in his right knee last week, raved to KFXN-FM 100.3’s Paul Allen about Edwards making the right plays and staying aggressive, all while opposing defenses put an intense focus on trying to slow him down.

“When they’re committing that much attention we pretty much know what we’re going to get and he’s just kind of orchestrating. That was always going to be one of the final steps in his growth, Finch said. “For him to sustain it at this level, with the stakes right now, it’s really high-level basketball.”

As good as Edwards has been through five playoff games, Jokic is the two-time MVP with a championship belt and Finch believes he remains the best player on the planet.

“These guys, they’re not going to be rattled,” Finch said of the Nuggets, who trail the best-of-seven series 0-1. “They still have the best player in the world, in my estimation. When the ball is in [Jokic’s] hand everything slows down and everyone’s playing at the pace that he wants. He’s creating for himself and others, but they’re just going to wear you down.”

Jokic had 32 points on 11-of-25 shooting in the 106-99 Game 1 loss, with Minnesota playing physical and trying to make Jokic as uncomfortable as possible. That’s the plan going forward, Finch said.

“You gotta make it so. He’s too good of a player to give him a free pass,” Finch explained. “If I had another three bigs I’d probably play them all on him too.”

Game 2 is set for 8:30 p.m. Monday in Denver.