Source: Timberwolves expect Anthony Edwards to play in Game 1

SAN ANTONIO — Nine days after badly hyperextending his left knee and suffering a bone bruise, Minnesota Timberwolves the guard Anthony Edwards Game 1 was against expectations San Antonio Spurs Except for a pregame setback, league sources told ESPN’s Shams Charnia.

Edwards is known as a quick healer, and team sources have indicated to ESPN in recent days a growing optimism that Edwards can make it back early in the series, pointing to Game 3 as a realistic goal.

But the Timberwolves star has been working around the clock to rehabilitate the left knee in an effort to speed up the process. He went through a few light workouts over the weekend and participated in the team’s Monday morning shootaround in San Antonio.

“I’m on record calling him Wolverine,” teammates Julius Rundle said “I remember being here last year at the beginning of the year and he’d take a bad fall or hit, we’d have to call a timeout and (I’d think), ‘Damn, he could be hurt for real.’ Then he gets up.”

Edwards was seen with a sleeve over his left knee after opening the shootaround to reporters Monday morning. Then he went through a shooting routine, testing that knee with a few quick dribble step-backs.

When they expected Edwards to return, the Wolves announced that they would be without a guard Come on Dosunmu for Monday’s game. He missed Game 6 against the Nuggets last week with a sore right calf after scoring 43 points in Game 5.

Edwards missed the final two games of the first-round series against the Timberwolves Denver Nuggets. His teammates were able to close it out at home in Game 6, giving Edwards a runway to return to the lineup for a challenging date with the Spurs, who went 62-20.