Is Anthony Edwards playing tonight against Houston Rockets? Latest update on 1x NBA All-Star's availability (Jan. 5)

Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves travel to Texas to take on the Houston Rockets on Friday. The Timberwolves are coming off a 117-106 home defeat to the New Orleans Pelicans, whereas the Rockets have won two in a row thanks to their 112-101 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.

The Timberwolves have won only twice over their last five games but are still on top of the Western Conference with 24 wins and nine losses. Meanwhile, the Rockets are eighth with a 17-15 record.

Anthony Edwards is not part of Minnesota's official injury report and is good to go for Friday's battle with Houston. The 2023 NBA All-Star scored 35 points on Wednesday, but the Pelicans stunned the Timberwolves, handing Minnesota its second home loss of the season.

Edwards has appeared in 30 games with averages of 26.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg and 5.1 apg, on 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Anthony Edwards' stats vs. Houston Rockets

Anthony Edwards has faced the Houston Rockets 10 times in his NBA career and has averages of 25.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 3.5 apg. The explosive guard will look for identical numbers on Friday to help his team return to the winning track.

The Timberwolves have lost two in a row for the first time this season, and another defeat could see them drop to the second or third place in the West, as the OKC Thunder (23-10) and Denver Nuggets (25-11) are a game or less behind them.

"It is on us because the coaches do a great job to bring the game plan and make sure we are ready," Anthony Edwards said. "And the rest is on us. They keep asking us to play hard, and they shouldn’t have to say it. We got to figure it out."

Minnesota has to play better defense to turn things around, as its defensive rating has not been at an elite level lately (116.4 points over the last five games). Still, the team has the best defensive rating among all 30, with 108.7.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch called his players to play with a sense of urgency as the franchise aims for a deep playoff run this year.

"We have to get our desperation back," Finch said. "We have to play better. We haven't played with a lot of purpose since we went to Sacramento.

"We'have been maybe in second gear since then. This performance has been coming for a while in the sense that we have not been very sharp. There's going to be a lot of waves of adversity."

Friday's game will kick off a four-game road trip for the Minnesota Timberwolves.