“He means a lot. He’s an alpha male, he stands out. When he plays like that, we’re hard to beat,” said Anthony Edwards about Julius Randle after his team’s Game 2 win against the Golden State Warriors. When he was traded to Minnesota, questions were raised over just how effective the player would be on the floor.

After all, his tenure with the Knicks saw the player not being so efficient on the scoring and defensive front. Fortunately, as Chris Finch also highlighted, Randle’s characteristic as a “consummate” worker brought not only new motivation to Anthony Edwards but also a new life to the team in a way that Karl-Anthony Towns couldn’t have. Now, the player added another feat to shut down any people who still believed his trade to the Timberwolves wasn’t beneficial.

In the aftermath of the Timberwolves’ Game 3 win, it was reported that Julius Randle has now become the first Timberwolves player, since Kevin Garnett, to record a triple-double in the playoffs—a feat that was recorded in 2004. Yes, a feat that not even Anthony Edwards or Karl-Anthony Towns came close to touching, even though both have managed to do it in the regular season.

The most interesting part about all this: Anthony Edwards did not even realize that his teammate recorded that triple-double by scoring 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists.

Julius Randle had flirted with triple-doubles several times while in the Timberwolves uniform, but finally got one on Saturday night. The box score was impressive, but it did not fully take into account the player’s steady presence and his providing buckets when shots weren’t connecting too well. After all, the Timberwolves’ power forward scored 13 of the team’s 40 points in the first half when the rest of the Minnesota field shot just 15 for 44 (34%) from the field. Along with the triple-double, the 12 assists were a playoff career high!

Both Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards came out on top in the recent game. The absence of Stephen Curry due to the player’s first hamstring injury of his NBA career gave the Timberwolves a major advantage, which the duo made full use of. Edwards showed no signs of being hampered after spraining his left ankle in the 2nd quarter of Game 2, and went on to score 36 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. He wasn’t as efficient on the shooting front, since he made 46.4% of his field goals and 35.7% of his 3-pointers. Nevertheless, he shot when needed the most, and both he and Randle were able to combine for 52 FGA. Mike Conley even joked about this during the post-game presser by stating, “They only had 52? We trying to get them 60 or 70”.

From the looks of it, Julius Randle seemed to have taken his teammate’s banter advice close to heart.

Anthony Edwards once jokingly told Julius Randle he needed to make more shots: “Thirteen shots. You alright?”

Back in late April, Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards participated in a presser. The same took place following the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 116-104 win against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3. Randle had delivered an efficient performance in that game, recording 46.2% field goals. However, he only attempted 13 shots, while Anthony Edwards, who surprisingly had the same field goal percentage, had attempted 26 shots. This led to the 23-year-old delivering a new target for his 30-year-old teammate.

“Julius (Randle) gotta shoot more. Thirteen shots. You alright?” said Edwards during the presser while looking toward Randle, who couldn’t help but laugh a little. “He took 13 shots y’all.”

Randle had to remind Edwards that he also took 10 free throws. This led to the young star adding, “You’re right, you’re right … He was incredible from the field and only took 13 shots. We need him to take like 10 more shots.”

Julius Randle ended his recent Game 3 run with 23 field goal attempts, aka his highest of the ongoing playoff series. Therefore, with any hope, Anthony Edwards keeps on jabbing his teammate more, and Randle keeps responding in kind through his on-court dominance. After all, though the Timberwolves may hold a 2-1 lead over the Golden State Warriors, the losses may be enough for Jimmy Butler and co to get motivated enough to even the odds.