Ant Man Is A Freak

The Association is ON ONE this week. And last night we had one of the best matchups of the year so far. It was a potential Finals preview. It had the defending champs. It had the hottest team in the NBA, well, at least until this week. It had a playoff atmosphere. It had everything. 

Don’t get me wrong, that game in Denver was entertaining as hell, and I will get to that game too. But that game was not as entertaining as my dude the Ant Man. The Ant Man is always an entertainer but I don't know that he's ever entertained like he entertained last night.

At this point, the fictional Ant Man should change his name because the fictional Ant Man’s powers are nothing compared to the real Ant Man’s powers. The real Ant Man can FLY. And you're not much of a superhero if there are real people walking around with your gloss that are way cooler and way more entertaining and have way more ability. 

What I'm saying is, there should only be one Ant Man, and that Ant Man should be Anthony Edwards. And if you're gonna do a movie about Ant Man, it should be about Anthony Edwards, starring Anthony Edwards.

You would agree with me if you saw that game-winning SWAT last night. And if you have an internet connection or a social media account then I know you saw that game-winning SWAT, because it was absolutely everywhere. For good reason. It was insane. 

This dude missed a free throw to make it a three point game with 7 seconds left... And then he turned around and sprinted the length of the floor and then achieved liftoff and then he vaporized the potential game-tying layup. This is what it sounded like.

Ant Man seriously went Jeff in Richmond on Aaron KNEE-SMITH. Ant Man was all GOOD NIGHT NOW. I just can’t imagine what kind of machinery would be required to get Jeff elevated that far off the ground. No offense Jeff. 

And it’s not just you Jeff, few humans who have ever lived can get up like that. I mean the dude smashed his dome on the rim. He’s lucky he didn’t crack his skull open on the iron. 

That’s the craziest part about this block, and I don’t even mean that he hit his head on the rim. It’s HOW he hit his head on the rim. He didn’t just graze the rim or bump the rim, he almost broke the rim. He almost jumped through the rim. If not for that rim, the dude might have leaped over the whole backboard. 

After the game he said it was the highest he’d ever jumped… and I definitely believe him. Because it might be the highest I’ve seen anyone jump. It might be the highest anyone has ever jumped. 

Oh yeah, I forgot about the landing on his wrist part. Because when you go that high up, you have to come all the way back down. And this dude came all the back down directly on his wrist and then just popped right back up to celebrate.

He's all good because he got that dub. And it was a big dub. And a big statement with the news that Karl-Anthony Towns could be out until the start of the playoffs with meniscus surgery. 

You could definitely say that Ant Man stepped it up in KAT's absence. You could also say Ant Man took stepping up extremely literally. He took stepping up to mean jumping halfway to Mars and cracking his dome on the rim and then falling all the way back down from orbit straight on his wrist. 

And here’s the thing about this dude’s performance last night… it was about a lot more than the block. The block was the eye candy. The block was the viral social media clip. The block was so incredible that I can’t stop watching or talking about it. But I also don’t want to shortchange the rest of the dude’s performance. Because the whole performance might have been the best we’ve ever seen out of Ant Man.

Just take his last minute and sixteen seconds alone. This game was tied at 105 with 1:16 left and then Ant Man went three ball to go up three, step back to go up five, fade to push the lead back to four and then that outrageous chase down block to win it.

Not trying to steer out of the way to throw shade at Jayson Tatum, but Celtics fan is already thinking it: Boston would have taken any one of those plays from their superstar in crunch time last night. Boston might have won if Tatum had made any one of those plays in the last minute-plus last night. 

Ant Man, on the other hand, made ALL the plays down the stretch. Made all the plays all game, at least when he was in. The last incredible thing about this super heroic effort from Ant was that he got hurt in the first minute of the game. He actually had to come off the floor with a ding two different times in that first half.

And yet he still wound up with 44 points and he still carried the team to a dub. In Indiana against a very good Pacers squad by the way. And oh by the way, the Wolves are still in first place. Standings... Look UP at em. 

Oh by the way, the Timberwolves still have the best record in the West. I know that will always sound wonky, but it's still true. And they still have the second best record in the Association. So you’re damn right Chris Finch and company deserve the top billing and the love today. No, they won’t have KAT for a while, but they do have Ant Man. The real Ant Man. And they do have my man Chris Finch to keep everyone in line.

I bet Finch wouldn’t call that display last night an “absolute disgusting performance of defense and immature basketball” like he blasted the team with back in January. It was actually the exact opposite of an absolute disgusting performance of defense and immature basketball.