Anthony Edwards one of the NBA’s most fun players to play against

MINNEAPOLIS — Being the Anti-Ant, Christian Braun knows he can’t back down from Ant’s antics.

This is a matchup that requires embracing, even enjoying, your opponent’s penchant for trash talking. It’s a matchup that requires a willingness to guard on an island where defensive mistakes are more prone. It’s a matchup that rewards intensity and audacity.

Braun has nowhere near the name recognition or star power of Anthony Edwards. But he possesses the confidence to believe his defense and Edwards’ offense can be equal. As he told The Denver Post this summer, alluding to the second round of the 2024 playoffs, “In the last series, I think everybody saw what I was capable of.”

The Nuggets know the Timberwolves can’t escape. They expect this to be a constant division battle well beyond Friday night’s showdown, the first rematch since Denver’s Game 7 collapse. And Braun knows there’s no escaping Edwards, the 23-year-old supernova whose rise has accelerated Minnesota’s.

“He’s competitive. I’m competitive. We’ve seen each other a lot,” said Braun, who is also 23 and has been trusted this season as Denver’s leading defensive guard — the answer to Edwards, perhaps for the foreseeable future. “We’ve had a lot of possessions against each other. I’ve got my stops. He’s got his buckets. So I understand he’s a guy I want to guard a lot. I really enjoy his game. I love to see him. I enjoy playing against him. He’s one of the most fun players to play against in the league just because he’s so competitive. It’s a good, competitive balance with him.”

Don’t get Braun wrong: He doesn’t like the Timberwolves. He said that in the dressing room after that Game 7 in which the Nuggets blew a 20-point lead in the second half. He claimed that Denver and Minnesota were officially rivals that night. “I actually just said it again,” Braun told The Post on Friday at Target Center, referring to another interview he had just finished. He believes that assessment still holds true, even after Minnesota made an identity-changing guard change this preseason, trading Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

“We play with each other a lot. They’re obviously going to be a top contender in the West for a long time,” Braun said. “They have one of the best players in the NBA. He’s still there. There’s a lot of guys that are still there. That sense of rivalry is (still) there for all those teams at the top. OKC, whoever it is, so we want it to be that rivalry feeling. You want to get up to those games. And this is a team we’re going to have to get up to pretty often.”

Still, his respect for Edwards shines through despite that label. The All-NBA guard entered the league in 2020 as the No. 1 overall pick out of Atlanta. Braun arrived two years later as the 21st pick. One of his high school teammates and eventual roommates in Denver, Mike Peake, was Edwards’ teammate during his only season of college basketball at Georgia. “My best friend played with him, so we’ve had a few conversations,” Braun said.

Edwards was one of the five highest-frequency isolation players in the NBA entering Friday night. He also led the league in 3-point attempts, averaging 13.3 per game. He made 41.5% of them.

Braun wasn’t Denver’s primary defender against Edwards last season, but in 26 minutes during the seven-game series, he held Edwards to a 4-for-12 shooting clip, according to the league’s matchup data. Those reps gave the Nuggets added confidence in Braun’s potential as the successor to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who ended up signing with Orlando in free agency. In a strange way, a streak that scarred Denver also boosts Braun.