内容摘要：failed that “maybe you’ll learn something for others like me.”

failed that “maybe you’ll learn something for others like me.”

“Nobody’s going to work harder than me this summer. I’ll tell you that much,” Edwards said after the 30-point lossthat ended the series in five games.

The offseason commitment has never been in question for Edwards, whose set career highs in 2024-25 in points per game (27.6), 3-point shooting percentage (39.5) and free-throw shooting percentage (83.7) while playing in 79 of 82 games. He also led the league in made 3-pointers (320). In five seasons, Edwards has missed a total of nine games.But the Thunder and their NBA-best defense posed a distinct challenge. Edwards shot just 6 for 31 from 3-point range in the four losses and was held under 20 points in three of them. He still found ways to drive to the basket and kick the ball through traffic to teammates in the corner, but the discrepancy in production between his counterpart Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was stark. The NBA MVP outscored Edwards 157-115, with a 116-87 edge in field goal attempts and a 51-32 edge in free throw attempts.“Obviously, he’s got to learn to play against that physicality and that type of holding all the time. They made it really hard for him,” coach Chris Finch said. “I thought for a lot of the series, he did make the right play, and we preach that to him all the time. Yeah, we need him to be aggressive, for sure. He’s got to find some easier buckets. I’ve got to help him do that.”

Edwards was also a culprit in the overall dip in effectiveness and intensity on defense, after the Wolves led the league on that end of the court during the 2023-24 season. Even after slipping from first to sixth in defensive rating for 2024-25, they held the Los Angeles Lakers under 100 points in three of five games in the first round and did the same to the Warriors in the second round.But Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder were a different story, albeit with an attack fueled by their steal-happy defense that made Edwards, Julius Randle and Naz Reid in particular pay for dribbling too much in tight coverage.

“Fifteen puppets on one string,” was how Edwards marveled at the Thunder’s execution of their defensive scheme.

Though three of their starters — Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert and“I’m in awe of someone who can make a decision like that at, you know, one of the worst moments in their lives and really think about ... humanity,” he said.

In Newburgh, New York, an ambulance had raced Miller to the hospital after he collapsed, a mass in his brain. He never woke up from the biopsy, brain-dead at just 57. Next steps were up to his sister, his closest relative.Miller-Duffy asked about donating his organs but he didn’t qualify. That biopsy had found cancer.

Only then did the organ agency broach whole-body donation. Miller-Duffy wasn’t familiar with that, but the goal of improving kidney transplants, “that kind of struck a chord.” Another brother had died of kidney disease as a toddler. Other relatives have kidney-damaging illnesses or even died on dialysis.Flipping through family photos, Miller-Duffy recalled how her brother would adopt animals and once took care of a terminally ill friend. Still, she had questions.