The Timberwolves trailed by 10 at the start of the fourth quarter of Game 4 on Sunday at Target Center. It’s human nature at that point for a star player to feel as though he needs to start forcing the issue to shoot his team back into the game.

And that’s exactly what Anthony Edwards did to help send Minnesota back to Los Angeles with a 3-1 series lead in their first-round playoff series against the Lakers.

For all the justified talk about how Edwards made the right plays in the final few minutes to secure Sunday’s victory, he got Minnesota back into the game thanks to old habits that delivered a spurt of sensational results.

Just 13 seconds into the fourth quarter, Edwards rose up from 28 feet to bury a lengthy triple.

The next time down, again down 10 points, he stopped and popped over a pair of Lakers defenders to hit another three. There were no passes delivered past half court on that Timberwolves possession. The same was true the next time down, when Edwards dribbled at the top of the floor before wading his way into the paint and missing a contested attempt.

Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates the win against the Los Angeles Lakers after Game Four of the First Round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center on April 27, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated the Lakers 116-113 to take a 3-1 series lead. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

Minnesota went away from Edwards to start the next possession. But after Julius Randle drew a foul, Edwards got the ball back on the ensuing out-of-bounds play. He dribbled for 13 seconds before tossing a grenade to Donte DiVincenzo at the end of the shot clock.

With just more than eight minutes to play and the Wolves down nine, Edwards again attacked from the top of the floor, this time hitting the shot he found in the middle of the paint. The next time down he dribbled the ball up the floor, took a couple of dribbles at Lakers guard Austin Reaves, then stepped back to bury a triple to bring Minnesota within four with still more than seven minutes to play.

Those four-plus minutes featured the same hero ball that at times sank the Wolves throughout the season. But, man, were they ever swimming this time.

Until the well ran dry. Edwards attempted another triple over a double team that misfired with five and a half minutes to play. Minnesota scored just seven points over a six-minute span in the frame.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said Edwards has grown “leaps and bounds” when it comes to finding others in late-game situations and not forcing the issue. But …

“I actually thought there were times we could’ve found each other a little bit better,” Finch said.

After Naz Reid scored five straight points, Edwards again came down the floor, isolated up top and took a tough triple try that hit off the iron. But a foul was called on Luka Doncic for hitting Edwards’ wrist, and he buried all three free throws.

The next time down, with just under three minutes to go and the Wolves up by one, Edwards dribbled down the floor, ran toward the baseline and took a tough, 20-foot stepback jumper just 10 seconds into the shot clock that hit off the front iron. Now Finch was upset.

As soon as the shot missed, the coach turned toward his bench, threw his arms up and yelled, “Why?”

Hero ball had served Minnesota well to get back into the game, just as it had in many memorable stretches in the past. But once the hot hand cools, you have to shift back to better basketball. It’s awesome to be a team’s home-run hitter, but sometimes you have to hit for contact.

Edwards hasn’t always grasped that concept. He did Sunday. That mid-range jumper was his last field goal attempt of the game.

The next time down the floor, Edwards pressed the blitzing defense and beat the two defenders to the baseline to draw a third Lakers body. Just as was the case in Game 3, when he hit Reid for an open triple, Edwards knew one of his teammates would be open on the wing.

This time, it was Donte DiVincenzo, who attacked Reaves’ closeout and got to the bucket for an and-1 layup. Two trips later, the Lakers again blitzed Edwards, who made the simple pass to a nearby Reid. Reid got into the lane and dumped it off to Jaden McDaniels, who completed an easy and-1 flush to put Minnesota on top for good.

“He just took over in the second half. Had it going,” Finch said. “Super aggressive, and I think there was only one really bad shot that he took in the last few minutes. But other than that, I thought he did a great job.”

While “Hero Ball” carries a negative connotation, Minnesota doesn’t want to completely discourage Edwards. He has to have the leash to deliver the special runs like he had at the beginning of the fourth quarter to make a comeback possible. However, those runs often don’t win you games, but rather put you in a position to do so by executing down the stretch.

Edwards is beginning to understand how to fill both roles.

“You could see it in his eyes that he was going to make the play. He was going to bring us home,” Finch said. “Now he’s hitting way more doubles and singles, and those plays are timely. He’s still being aggressive for himself, committing the defense. I think he has an understanding where the defense is going to be when he starts and when he ends his play.”

The results are showing.

“He’s been real meticulous with what he’s doing late in the games. He’s taking his time, really sizing up the defense, understanding where guys are going to be on the court, taking what’s there and available,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “He had the three going there for a little bit, then he started getting downhill, making plays. So just happy with him being able to seek out different matchups and take advantage.”

Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates his basket against the Los Angeles Lakers in the fourth quarter of Game Three of the First Round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center on April 25, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated the Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 series lead. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

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“We cannot allow proposed cuts to HUD and Section 8 to devastate our communities. These aren’t abstract budget items—they represent the homes and futures of real people we work with every day.”

NYCHA’s Polo Grounds Houses. (Adi Talwar for City Limits)

As we commemorate Fair Housing Month this April, we stand alongside thousands of public housing residents fighting for their homes and their rights. We’ve walked through aging NYCHA buildings with Community Voices Heard (CVH) Power members like Ms. Barbara, who has lived in the Polo Grounds Towers for over 20 years. She shows us the persistent leaks, the mold growing on the walls, and explains how she organizes her neighbors to demand basic repairs. Despite these challenges, she proudly calls public housing home—it’s where she raised her children.

In February, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alongside the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), terminated 78 grants in 33 states totaling more than $30 million that provided funding for fair housing organizations. Stories like Ms. Barbara’s remind us why we cannot allow proposed cuts to HUD and Section 8 to devastate our communities. These aren’t abstract budget items—they represent the homes and futures of real people we work with every day.

At Community Voices Heard Power, our members know the life-changing power of stable, affordable housing – because they’ve experienced it personally. They also know the constant anxiety of threatened funding cuts. During our monthly meetings in Harlem, Yonkers, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie, we hear from residents like Nola, a retired senior who worked at the Department of Justice and has been a resident of public housing in Newburgh for 24 years. And from Maria, who is the President of her Tenant Association at UPACA 6 in Harlem, and has lived in public housing since 1964.

These CVH Power members aren’t just beneficiaries of housing programs—they’re powerful advocates who travel to Albany and Washington to testify about the critical importance of these investments. This year, CVH Power organized hundreds of tenants who boarded buses at dawn to make their voices heard at the state capitol. They understand that when we talk about HUD funding, we’re talking about their homes, their communities, and their lives.

The numbers behind these human stories are equally compelling. Even before potential cuts, only one in four eligible households receives federal housing assistance due to chronic underfunding. And more than half a million Americans experience homelessness on any given night. Meanwhile, rising rents and stagnant wages have created an affordability crisis – millions of families spend more than half their income on housing.

In my years as Regional Administrator for HUD in New York and New Jersey, I saw how federal programs can create pathways to opportunity, and how insufficient funding leads to nearly impossible challenges. Since my teenage years living in HUD-assisted housing, public housing has steadily declined, and I understand the urgency of prioritizing capital repair needs. I’ve sat with residents facing heating outages in the dead of winter, waiting years for basic repairs.

But I’ve also witnessed the transformation that comes with meaningful investment, where renovations not only improve living conditions but also, through Section 3, open doors to workforce development and job opportunities for residents themselves.

CVH Power members can tell you exactly what happens when funding erodes: maintenance backlogs grow, security concerns increase, and quality of life deteriorates. But they can also tell you about the pride and potential in their communities when properly supported. Public housing isn’t just shelter—it’s a foundation for education, employment, health, and community building.

Moreover, cutting housing investments is fiscally irresponsible. Every dollar invested in affordable housing generates multiple dollars in economic activity. Stable housing reduces costs in healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. And preventing homelessness is far less expensive than addressing it after the fact.

Some argue that the private market can address housing needs without government intervention. But CVH Power members who’ve navigated the brutal private rental market in New York can tell you otherwise. Market forces alone consistently fail to produce sufficient affordable housing, particularly for those with the lowest incomes. Public investment is essential to fill this gap.

As we reflect on Fair Housing Month, we draw inspiration from CVH Power members like Millie, who has lived in Section 8 housing in Poughkeepsie for 15 years, and joined our organization to fight for her right to stay. The Fair Housing Act was enacted in the wake of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, carrying forward his vision of a society where everyone has access to safe, decent, affordable housing. Cutting HUD funding betrays this vision and the values we claim to uphold as a nation.

We call on Congress and the administration to listen to the voices of CVH Power members and public housing residents across the country who are fighting to protect their homes. We need increased investments to address our housing crisis, not cuts. 

The fight for fair and affordable housing is a fight for human dignity, economic opportunity, and racial justice. During Fair Housing Month and beyond, let us recommit to the principle that everyone deserves a decent place to call home—and let us hold our elected officials accountable for policies that make this principle a reality.

Juanita O. Lewis is the executive director of Community Voices Heard Power. Alicka Ampry-Samuel is a former member of the NYC and former regional administrator for New York and New Jersey of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The post Opinion: This Fair Housing Month, Let’s Protect Public Housing From HUD Cuts appeared first on City Limits.

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s effort to impose new requirements on Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine — the nation’s only traditional protein-based option for the coronavirus — is sowing uncertainty about updates to other vaccines, too.

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Novavax said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration was asking the company to run a new clinical trial of its vaccine after the agency grants full approval. The company said it had responded and that it believed its shot remains “approvable.”

But a weekend post on social media by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary suggested the prospect of needing a new trial before the shots’ yearly strain update — something unlikely to be possible before fall. That’s raised questions about whether other vaccines will be caught in the turmoil.

“I don’t think because there’s a strain change that this is a new product,” said Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, a former FDA vaccine chief. If that’s the new policy, “you’d always be doing clinical trials and you’d never have a vaccine that was up to date.”

The unusual move at FDA come shortly after the agency’s longtime vaccine chief was forced out over disagreements with Makary’s boss, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy won Senate confirmation to his job, in part, by promising not to change the nation’s vaccine schedule. Since taking office, he’s promised to “investigate” children’s shots, canceled meetings of expert vaccine advisers and directed officials to look again for connections between vaccines and autism, a link long-ago debunked.

The Novavax vaccine, which originally showed effectiveness in a nearly 30,000-person clinical trial, is still being sold under emergency use authorization in the U.S. The nation’s other two options, mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, have earned full FDA approval for certain age groups.

Because the coronavirus continually mutates, manufacturers follow instructions from FDA to make one change each year to their recipe — which strain to target — just like flu vaccines.

The FDA was on track to grant Novavax full approval by its April 1 target date, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters. But Trump appointees directed FDA scientists to pause their decision, according to one of the people. Since that highly unusual move, Novavax and the agency have been discussing additional requirements for approval.

In his weekend tweet, FDA’s Makary referred to the Novavax vaccine as “a new product,” presumably because it had been updated to match last year’s common coronavirus strain.

“New products require new clinical studies,” Makary added.

An administration spokesman didn’t respond to specific questions about Pfizer and Moderna but suggested all COVID-19 vaccines could face stricter requirements.

“It’s now been years since COVID has presented the threat it once did, and the urgency to rush approval of boosters without normal oversight no longer exists,” said Andrew Nixon, a Health and Human Services spokesman, in a statement.

The FDA had been treating the annual COVID-19 strain updates exactly as it’s done for decades with flu vaccines — not as new products, but existing ones that are merely adjusted to protect against the latest strains, said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Offit said the companies still must perform tests in small numbers of people that show these updated vaccines produce levels of virus-fighting antibodies known to be protective, and they’re closely monitored for safety.

Nixon, the HHS spokesman, suggested the policy might not apply to the flu shot, “which has been tried and tested for more than 80 years.”

Under federal law, the FDA is required to follow established procedures when issuing requirements to drugmakers for approval. If the agency skips certain steps or imposes additional requirements for political reasons, experts say, it could be sued by drugmakers — or even patients, such as those who prefer the Novavax vaccine over its competitors because of an allergy or some other reason.

In addition to large clinical trials conducted before all three COVID-19 vaccines were cleared for use, there’s data on real-world use, said former Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, who oversaw COVID-19 vaccine policy during the Biden administration.

“At the point where I had left, we had put some 700 million COVID vaccines into the arms of Americans,” he said. “That’s a pretty good size clinical trial.”

AP writer Amanda Seitz contributed to this story.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

If you were to create a prototypical NHL playoff forward from scratch, you would take some size, add some grit and honesty, throw in a willingness to make a “play without gloves on” when necessary, and make said player a bulldog around the opponent’s net.

When you were finished putting all of those elements together, that forward might look a lot like Minnesota Wild veteran Marcus Foligno.

Not only does Foligno lead all NHL players this spring with 35 postseason hits, he already has more than doubled his career postseason goals number, scoring in three of the first four games of the Wild’s first-round series with Vegas. With Foligno still signed for three more years, at $4 million annually, it’s a good sign for a franchise that believes it’s on the cusp of real playoff success

“The attributes he plays with are built for playoff time,” Wild coach John Hynes said following the team’s Monday morning practice at TRIA Rink. Foligno is often a willing fighter in the regular season, but Hynes said a key to playoff success this year has been playing a physical role while staying out of the penalty box.

“He’s under control. When he finds times to get hits, he’s getting hits. When they’re not, he’s not chasing it. He’s not overly emotional,” Hynes said. “He’s mentally engaged in the game. He’s physically engaged in the game. He’s playing the style of game with his puck play that sets him up to be a strong player, and then when he’s getting his goals, he’s in and around the net-front.”

Minnesota Wild center Gustav Nyquist (41) and left wing Marcus Foligno (17) check Vegas Golden Knights right wing Keegan Kolesar (55) during the first period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)

The Wild trailed early in Game 4, before Marco Rossi forged a tie, and Foligno gave Minnesota its first lead, lurking around Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill and slamming home the rebound of a Ryan Hartman shot after Hill made the initial save. It was a veteran play in a part of the rink where you know there will be contact from the opposing defense, but Foligno has made a living with his size and dogged determination in those “dirty areas” of the ice.

While the playoff numbers are unprecedented in his career, Wild teammates say that this is the Folgino they see throughout the regular season and in practice.

“I love him, all year long,” Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “So many nights when we’re a little flat or something, he brings so much energy with the way he plays — dropping the gloves, hitting, talking on the ice and on the bench.

“It’s the same way in the playoffs. He’s maybe upped his hit count a little, and that’s been crazy, but he’s fun to watch. Love, love, love to watch his play and to watch him be productive.”

Fleury added that several years of practicing against Foligno, and trying to see incoming pucks around the forward’s 6-foot-3, 227-pound frame is the challenge that Hill faces, again, over the next two or three games.

Foligno is from a hockey family. His father, Mike, played more than 1,000 games, and older brother Nick is skating for the Chicago Blackhawks. Of note, in their sibling rivalry, is the fact that Nick has twice been to the second round of the playoffs, with Columbus in 2018 and 2019, while Marcus has never seen Round 2.

That might be an extra incentive for the younger Foligno brother to continue his playoff prowess, with the Wild filled with confidence headed back to Vegas for Game 5 on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena. Puck drop is set for 8:30 p.m. CDT.

The Wild won Game 2 in Vegas, and their 23 regular-season road wins are tied for third among NHL teams.

“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Foligno said. “I mean, we’ve got to understand that we’ve got to play the same way and play like we did in spurts of Game 1 and majority of Game 2. … The road doesn’t faze this team.”

Blue line change?

Hynes did not use rookie defenseman Zeev Buium in overtime of Game 4, sticking with veterans on the back end. At Monday’s practice, Buium was not skating with the top six defenseman, and while not tipping his lineup hand, the coach admitted a change might be coming in Game 5.

“I haven’t made a final decision on the D, but it is in consideration,” Hynes said.

Buium has a point in his four career games while playing on the Wild’s top power play unit, and also took a costly four-minute penalty in the third period of their overtime loss in Game 4. Veteran Jon Merrill would be the most likely candidate to take Buium’s place on the back end.

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