MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves have seen Anthony Edwards writhing in pain on the floor several times throughout his career, before eventually welcoming their star guard back to the game.
This looked a little different. The sprained left ankle that forced Edwards out in the second quarter of Game 2 against Golden State on Thursday night even gave him a scare.
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Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) grabs his leg on the court during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) is helped off the court after sustaining an injury during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) goes up for a shot as Golden State Warriors forward Trayce Jackson-Davis (32) defends during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) leaves the court after sustaining an injury during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) grabs his leg during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
“This one, I was really worried about, actually,” coach Chris Finch said. “There are lots of ways being an elite athlete pays off. Being able to shake those things off is certainly one of them. But this one, I was really planning on not seeing him the rest of the game, to be honest with you.”
Edwards managed to make it back yet again, causing a roar from the crowd when he walked back onto the court for warmups right before the start of the second half. The 23-year-old finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Timberwolves in the 117-93 victory over the Warriors that tied the second-round series.
“That one was crazy,” Edwards said. "But I’ll be all right.”
Edwards tried to finish a fast break with a layup that Warriors center Trayce Jackson-Davis blocked before landing on Edwards' left foot as they both came down.
Edwards immediately grabbed for his ankle as he sat on the floor under the basket. He was unable to put weight on his left foot as he was eventually helped off the court, after Golden State's Draymond Green even came over to check on him.
Once Edwards reached the locker room, David Hines, the vice president for medical operations and performance therapy, went to work.
“Once we got to like the third movement in my ankle, I’m like, ‘All right, it’s starting to feel good. If we tape it, I’ll see how it feels,'” Edwards said. "He does a great job of making sure I’m good before I get out there, so big shoutout to David.”
Edwards, a three-time All-Star who was fourth in the NBA in scoring during the regular season, had just seven points on 2-for-7 shooting before he got hurt. His production once he returned was strong enough to assure the Wolves and their fans there wasn't anything to worry about moving forward in the series.
Edwards went up to catch a lob from Julius Randle and dropped it in for a layup late in the third quarter, passing an important test for his ankle.
“Superman, for real,” teammate Jaden McDaniels said.
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Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) grabs his leg on the court during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) is helped off the court after sustaining an injury during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) goes up for a shot as Golden State Warriors forward Trayce Jackson-Davis (32) defends during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) leaves the court after sustaining an injury during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) grabs his leg during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
SYDNEY (AP) — Two gunmen attacked a Hannukah celebration on a Sydney beach Sunday, killing at least 11 people in what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitism and terrorism.
The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular and iconic beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those episodes and Sunday’s shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting for almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.
One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second, who was arrested, was in critical condition, authorities said. Police said one of the gunmen was known to the security services, but that there had been no specific threat.
At least 29 people were confirmed wounded, including two police officers, said Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner for New South Wales state, where Sydney is located.
Police said officers were examining a number of suspicious items, including several improvised explosive devices found in one of the suspect’s cars.
“This attack was designed to target Sydney's Jewish community,” the state's premier, Chris Minns, said. The massacre was declared a terrorist attack due to the event targeted and weapons used, Lanyon said.
Hundreds had gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs scores of centers around the world that are popular with Jewish travelers and sponsors large public events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event.
Video footage filmed by onlookers appeared to show two gunmen with long guns firing from a footbridge leading to the beach. One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.
Minns called the man a “genuine hero.”
Police said emergency services were called to Campbell Parade in Bondi about 6.45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired.
Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press he was waiting for his family nearby when he heard shots. He dropped the beer he was carrying for his brother and ran.
“You heard a few pops, and I freaked out and ran away. ... I started sprinting. I just had that intuition. I sprinted as quickly as I could," Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes.
“Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible," Moran said.
The violence erupted at the end of a hot summer day when thousands had flocked to the beach.
“It was the most perfect day and then this happened,” said local resident Catherine Merchant.
“Everyone was just running and there were bullets and there were so many of them and we were really scared,” she told Australia’s ABC News.
Albanese told reporters in the Australian capital, Canberra, that he was “devastated” by the massacre.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith. An act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation,” Albanese said.
“Amidst this vile act of violence and hate will emerge a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith,” he said.
World leaders expressed condolences. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the “ghastly terrorist attack” and offered his condolences to the families who lost their loved ones.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the “appalling attack.” Police in London said they would step up security at Jewish sites.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.”
Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.
Throughout last summer, the country was rocked by spate of antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population live.
Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran. The authorities didn't make such claims about Sunday's massacre.
Israel urged Australia's government to address crimes targeting Jews.
“The heart of the entire nation of Israel misses a beat at this very moment,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “We repeat our alerts time and time again to the Australian government to seek action and fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.”
Mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms.
Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014, and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.
In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.
McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia, and Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
A small Christmas tree is at the center of an abandoned holiday picnic at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Bystanders stay where police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers standby at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
