To sweep a team with 55 wins or more in the regular season is a very tough thing to do, but how about doing that and every single game being a blow out?
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!That is exactly what the Phoenix Suns accomplished yesterday with a 125-106 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves to close out the regular season. Phoenix never led by less than double digits in the second half of any of the three games it played against Minnesota.
And who did the Suns draw in the first round of playoffs with the win? The Timberwolves. Phoenix (49-33) moved up from the No. 7 seed to No. 6 with the victory, while Minnesota (56-26) fell from No. 2 to No. 3.
The Suns forced an insanely high 24 turnovers against the T-Wolves yesterday (19 in the first half), and this came just a little more than a week after they held Minnesota to a season-low 87 points in a 97-87 home victory on April 5.
However, Phoenix knows that the playoffs are a whole new ballgame and isn’t taking Minnesota lightly even with these three wins.
“It means means nothing,” Suns’ coach Frank Vogel said. “We’ve got the utmost respect for this basketball team. They have not played their best against us, but we’ve seen them kick everybody’s butt throughout throughout the course of the season … They have the best defense in the league.”
Minnesota finished the season ranked No. 1 in defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) at 108.4, No. 1 in fewest points allowed per game (106.5) and No. 1 in opponent field-goal percentage (45%).
In three games the Suns, those numbers dropped to a 123.7 defensive rating (the worst mark for any team this season across 82 games was 119.6), 118.3 points allowed per game and an allowed field-goal percentage of 53.0%.
As they have all season, Phoenix shut down Anthony Edwards, holding the young star to only 13 points on 3-of-7 shooting yesterday. The Suns also limited Karl Anthony-Towns to 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting in his second game back from a left meniscus tear.
Edwards, who averaged 25.9 points per game this season on 46.1% shooting, only averaged 14.3 points on 31% shooting in the three games against the Suns this year.Â
“Anthony Edwards is one of the most dynamic guys in the league and one of most difficult guys to stop,” Vogel said. “They got defensive firepower all over. KAT is still getting his legs under him. He’ll be better you know when the playoffs begin, and it’s gonna be a dogfight.”
Suns’ superstar Kevin Durant, who will be playing in his 13th playoffs, is not underestimating the talent of the T-Wolves based on their play against Phoenix.
“You can obviously take some stuff away, but you don’t want to rely too much on that,” Durant said. “It’s a different team. This team (has been) a contending team since day one. They’re going to come in here with a different mindset, different intensity. The crowd is going to be different, the game is going to be reffed different. You can look at some film, some stuff you did in the regular season, but you can’t think that the game’s going to be like that. We got to be ready for a dogfight.”
(via AZÂ Central’s Duane Rankin)
"They're going to come in here with a different mindset, different intensity. The crowd is going to be different, the game is going to be reffed different."
Kevin Durant on #Suns facing T-Wolves 1st round after sweeping regular season series, 3-0. Game 1 Saturday in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/nuCgef6D7V
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) April 15, 2024
The Timberwolves improved from the No. 8 seed last year to the No. 3 seed this season, while keeping relatively the same core and coach in Chris Finch
“You can’t make too much of the regular season matchups,” Vogel said. “I mean, they got great size, I love their team. I’m a guy that has coached two bigs throughout the course of my career and coach Finch has done a great job with those guys, and like I said they got a lot of talent on that roster, okay. Both sides, (they) have offensive talent and defensive talent, so it’s gonna be a dogfight.”
Grayson Allen, who reportedly agreed to a four-year, $70 million extension with the Suns today, will be entering his first playoffs in Phoenix and fifth of his career.
“We know in the playoffs everything gets more physical as teams know other teams every action, every personnel, every tendency everyone wants to do,” Allen said. “Our preparation will go up a level, the physicality of the game will go up a level, and we’ll be ready for it.”
Devin Booker, who will be hoping to lead Phoenix its first NBA championship in his ninth season in the Valley, says you can’t take anything at all from the three games in the postseason.
“You have to move forward,” Booker said. “It’s a whole different dynamic. We understand that, we’re going to start shifting our mindset to such. Every team’s going to be different.”
"I don't care about them anymore. Nah, I'm just messing with you."
Devin Booker on Lakers beating Pelicans as Suns needed to beat T-Wolves and have Lakers top Pelicans to get 6th seed.
Booker was rooting for Lakers. Both won.
"Crazy how everything worked out." #Suns #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/xxqPnnUcKR
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) April 14, 2024
Suns lock up 6th seed to avoid play-in, will face Timberwolves in first round
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
