Timberwolves stun Grizzlies in Game 1

Anthony Edwards was glad to get a victory in the first playoff game of his career.

Now, he and the rest of the Timberwolves, want more. Edwards scored 36 points in his postseason debut, and the seventh-seeded Wolves stunned the No. 2 seed Grizzlies 130-117 on Saturday to grab home-court advantage in the opener of their first-round Western Conference series.

“Putting on another show,” said Edwards, the top overall pick in the 2020 draft. “That’s it. Putting on another show and impact winning.”

All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns added 29 points and 13 rebounds. Malik Beasley had 23 points, and Jaden McDaniels 15. Patrick Beverley and D’Angelo Russell had 10 apiece. The Timberwolves, fresh off beating the Clippers in the play-in game, won their first playoff opener since 2004. That’s when they beat Sacramento in the first round on their way to the Western Conference finals.

Towns said it was a good feeling walking off with a confidence-building win.

“We did a lot of little things that are needed to win,” Towns said. “We should be very proud of our performance.”

Jazz top short-handed Mavs: Bojan Bogdanovic put the Jazz ahead to stay just before halftime, Donovan Michell got aggressive in the second half and the only made shot by Royce O’Neale was a huge one late for the Jazz.

All that injured guard Luka Doncic could do for the Mavericks was watch from the bench, where at one point he was munching popcorn.

Mitchell scored 30 of his 32 points after the break, Bogdanovic finished with 26 and the Jazz opened the playoffs with a 99-93 victory Saturday over the Mavs, who had cut an 11-point deficit to one before O’Neale’s 3-pointer.

“The fact he didn’t hesitate and shot that ball, that’s a mindset, and I think it’s a mindset that our team has right now,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said.

Maxey breaks out: Tyrese Maxey had the breakout game of his young career, scoring 21 of his playoff career-high 38 points in the third quarter to lead the 76ers to a 131-111 Game 1 win over the Raptors on Saturday night. James Harden had 22 points and 14 assists in his first Eastern Conference playoff game as a Sixer. Joel Embiid, the NBA scoring champion, had 19 points and 15 rebounds.