Spoelstra tells Heat reserve to quiet down after igniting Anthony Edwards

· Yahoo Sports

Anthony Edwards didn’t just light the Miami Heat up for 45 points in the Timberwolves’ season-opening win on Wednesday night, he let them hear about it, too.

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Edwards always plays with a lot of emotion. But even for him, this was an elevated level. He was constantly talking trash to defenders after makes. “The f— is wrong with y’all?” was the rhetorical question frequently posed by Edwards, who seemed offended by the notion that Miami thought they could stop him. On more than one occasion, he appeared to go after someone on the Heat bench.

There was a reason for that.

“A player on their bench was talking trash,” Edwards explained after the game. “At one of the dead ball situations. And I think it kind of crunk me up. Because he was talking pretty crazy. And then when I started talking to him, he didn’t really have too much more to say. And I don’t really like that. If you’re gonna talk s—, keep talking s—. Don’t get quiet. I think that was pretty much the reason why I was super intense tonight.”

Those who follow the Heat surmised that it was almost certainly a reserve wing named Myron Gardner, a second-year player who has a reputation for smack talk.

“I don’t know his name,” Edwards said when asked to confirm if that was the case.

On Thursday, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra essentially confirmed that Gardner was the guilty party. He also made it clear that he’s not exactly a fan of the “poke the bear” approach.

“I love Myron’s competitive spirit and he wants to infuse energy into the group,” Spoelstra said, via Eric Nehm. “Also have to be smart about it. I particularly don’t want him talking trash to the other team’s best scorers, especially when he’s not out there. But he’s got a good heart. He means the right thing. He’ll be better.”

After scoring 41 points in last year’s opener against the Blazers, Edwards joined Wilt Chamberlain as just the second player in NBA history with 40 in consecutive season openers. His performance was the tenth in league history with at least 45 points, 10 rebounds, and nine made threes.

Gardner, who played three minutes in garbage time, was not made available for comment at Heat practice on Thursday.

The Wolves are back in action on Friday night in Orlando.

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This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Oct 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Timberwolves section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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