Edwards eager to bring Garnett-like energy to playoffs



Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards heard the ovation Kevin Garnett was getting from the Minnesota crowd and hustled across the court for a pregame bear hug, as the Hall of Fame forward and Timberwolves icon was soaking in his warm welcome from the fans last week.

Edwards found plenty of inspiration from Garnett's first visit to Target Center in eight years, at the end of a rather uninspiring regular season for the team overall.

“He’s the greatest Timberwolf of all time,” Edwards said after practice on Wednesday. "That was big for us, getting him back in the building, and hopefully we can get him back for the playoffs to give us some energy.”

After the reaching the Western Conference finals in each of the last two years, the Timberwolves will take plenty of confidence and experience into these NBA playoffs beginning on Saturday at Denver. But they'll have to show some serious reinvigoration from the so-so performance over the last three months.

“We know the team we can be and who we have been. It’s about whether we can maintain that,” coach Chris Finch said. “You don’t ever really want to be a flip-the-switch team, but we do have a switch to flip, and we have to flip it now. When we do that, everybody kind of becomes the best version of themselves and that brings out that continuity and connection that we need.”

Just like Garnett fueled the Timberwolves teams of a previous generation, culminating in their Western Conference finals appearance in 2004, the engine of the current group originates with Edwards.

The four-time All-Star guard, who has helped lead Minnesota to the playoffs in five of his six years in the NBA, has been part of the problem this season during certain lulls in the team's focus and spirit.

“It felt like that at times, like we were just trying to get through the season to get to the playoffs, but we’re here now, and all the other excuses are out the window,” said Edwards, who averaged 28.8 points per game in 2025-26 on 48.9% shooting including 39.9% from 3-point range, all career highs.

Minnesota's biggest regression this season was on defense, finishing eighth in the league in defensive rating after placing sixth in 2024-25 and first in 2023-24. That uneven focus and spirit undoubtedly did the most damage to the results at this end of the court.

“When our group doesn’t have a choice, usually it shows up, and so once again it’s all in our hands. It’s all in our power,” center Rudy Gobert said. “We’re facing a great opponent, and we know that if we don’t come out hungry, we don’t have a chance.”

Edwards, for his part, will be well-rested. He was limited to a career-low 61 games this season, sidelined for eight of the last 11 games with persistent knee pain. But he said on Wednesday he used the time to trim some body fat and reduce his weight to 218 pounds — his lowest since he was 18.

“I haven’t played a lot in the last month," Edwards said, “so I'm trying to get back in shape.”



Source link

Leave a Reply

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get our latest articles delivered straight to your inbox. No spam, we promise.

Recent Reviews


Types of DBA’s – Table of Content

There are many kinds of DBAs. But the most common type is general DBA, who carries out all the administrative and data-oriented tasks. Some DBAs are specialized in building systems, while other DBAs concentrate on the maintenance and development of existing systems or on limited areas of the database management and administration. In large organizations, the responsibilities of DBAs are generally divided into different types of jobs.

Types of DBA’s include:

System DBA: DBA’s in this role concentrates on technical issues rather than that of business issues, mainly in the field of system administration. System DBA is also responsible for installing the latest DBMS versions, applying the maintenance fixes, setting system parameters, setting the OS, installation of third-party DBA tools, transaction processors, and networks to run on the DBMS, allowing DBMS to work with storage management softwares and devices, ensuring adequate storage of the DBMS and interfacing with other technology needed for database applications. 

System DBAs do not often participate in the effective implementation of applications and databases. They may help adjust applications when OS settings or complex DBMS settings need to be changed. In fact, the work of the DBA system usually only exists if the organization has no official system administration or a system programming department.

                 Take your career to next level in SQL Server DBA with HKR. Enroll now to get SQL Server DBA Certification Course Training!

Database Analyst: We don’t really have a fixed definition of this position. At times, Junior DBAs are designated as Database Analysts. In some cases, a database analyst plays a similar role as the database architect. At times, the Data Administrator is called a Database Analyst or Data Analyst. And sometimes, some companies use the term data analyst rather than a database administrator.

Data Modeler: Generally, a data Modeler is responsible for the subset of the responsibilities of a data architect. Generally, a data modeler is not considered as a DBA; however, it is not a strict rule.

SQL Server DBA Training

  • Master Your Craft
  • Lifetime LMS & Faculty Access
  • 24/7 online expert support
  • Real-world & Project Based Learning

Database Architect: Some of the organizations create separate positions as database architects to develop and implement new databases. The database architect is responsible for new design as well as development work and does not participate in the administration, maintenance, or adjustment of applications and established databases. Database architect plans new databases to support existing or new applications. The reason for creating separate positions for these duties is that the skills needed to design new databases differ from the skills needed for the maintenance of the existing database implementation. Database Architect is similar to general-purpose DBA to have expertise in data management and modeling.

Task-Oriented DBA: Large organizations may create highly specialized DBAs to focus on a particular DBA task. They are very rare outside large organizations. An example of task-oriented DBA is recovery and backup DBA, whose job is to ensure the recoverability of the databases of the organizations. However, most of the organizations do not have such a specialization. When it is possible, these task-oriented DBA’s will make sure that highly skilled specialists are engaged in important DBA tasks. 

Data Warehouse Administrator: Organizations that establish data warehouses to carry out in-depth data analytics often employ DBAs particularly for monitoring and supporting the data warehouse environment. He must be a competent DBA with complete knowledge of the differences between data warehouses and databases which support OLTP. Database Administration needs experience with business Intelligence and query tools, ETL skills, knowledge on data warehousing technologies like ETL, OLAP, etc., specialized database design of data warehousing, etc.

Enroll in our Netezza DBA Training program today and elevate your skills!

Database Management & Administrations, dba-types-description-0, Database Management & Administrations, dba-types-description-1

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new updates..!

Performance Analyst: Performance analysts are one particular kind of task-oriented DBA. They are more common than that of task-oriented DBA’s. They concentrate only on the performance of the database applications. They need to understand all the details and all the SQL coding nuances for performance and have the capacity to develop performance databases. They possess thorough DBMS technical knowledge in order to be able to make proper changes to the DBMS and system settings as required. But, the performance analyst is not expected to be system DBA. He should be able to reach out to application developers to assist them in facilitating appropriate program changes for performance.

The Performance Analyst is typically the most qualified and senior-most member among the DBA staff. It is a role he has grown up with because of the experience and respect he earned in past tuning efforts.

Application DBA: Unlike the system, DBA is the application DBA. The DBA application concentrates on the database design and the continuous support and administration of the databases for a particular application or part of applications. The application DBA is capable of being an expert in writing and debugging complicated SQL and understands the best ways to include database requests in application programs are. The application DBA should be able to manage database change, performance adjustment, and most other DBA roles. The main difference is that the focus of application DBA is on a particular subset of applications instead of the overall implementation of the DBMS and the database environment. 

Some organizations do not hire application DBAs. But, wherever Application DBAs are available, DBAs of general-purpose are always needed to support the entire database environment and the infrastructure. And when there are no application DBAs in the organization, general-purpose DBAs are recruited to support particular applications and also to maintain the database environment of the organization.

        Top Frequently asked SQL Sever Interview Questions & Answers for freshers & experienced professionals

SQL Server DBA Training

Weekday / Weekend Batches

Conclusion:

Obviously, there are other types of DBAs as well. The fact is that the DBA job title doesn’t involve a single job. There are a lot of jobs that come under the category of database administrator.

In this blog, we have seen various types of DBAs. These types of DBA positions exist according to the responsibilities and the tasks that are assigned to them. We hope you found the blog “Types of DBAs” useful. For more blogs, stay tuned to HKR Trainings website.

Related Article:



Source link