MIAMI — The Miami Heat spent their entire offseason preparing for Giannis Antetokounmpo's highly anticipated debut. Anthony Edwards spent approximately 33 minutes making sure nobody remembered the celebration.
Edwards erupted for 45 points, buried nine three-pointers, and grabbed 10 rebounds as Minnesota demolished Miami 131–106 Wednesday night, turning the beginning of the Giannis era into an elaborate Anthony Edwards highlight reel.
Giannis did his part. The former Milwaukee superstar scored 35 points on 13-for-19 shooting, threw down spectacular dunks, and received MVP chants from his new fans before the first television timeout.
Unfortunately, the visiting team had brought its own MVP candidate.
"We prepared for Giannis to be the biggest story tonight," a fictional Heat representative admitted. "Nobody mentioned that Anthony Edwards had other plans."
Edwards personally made more three-pointers than Miami's entire roster, nine to eight, an achievement that reportedly forced the Heat's analytics department to check whether the three-point line had been installed incorrectly.
LaMelo Ball added 21 points in his Minnesota debut, apparently deciding his new job description was simply to give Edwards the basketball and enjoy the show.
Minnesota blew the game open with a 23–7 run spanning the second and third quarters. Giannis eventually fouled out, presumably after realizing the Heat's celebrated culture did not include instructions for defending nine made threes.
Edwards also joined Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players with multiple 40-point performances in season openers.
Miami invested its future in a generational superstar and received exactly what it paid for: 35 points from Giannis.
**The problem was that Minnesota brought Anthony Edwards, and apparently 35 points wasn't enough to cover the welcome-party expenses.**
