Despite a challenging 2nd half in Game 2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns’ head coach Frank Vogel focused on the positives, highlighting the team’s competitive 1st half where they led by one point at the break.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!After the game, Vogel reflected on his team’s 1st half performance:
“Offensively, you know, we did some things we made some offensive adjustments physically. And a lot of it looks good. You know, we just didn’t sustain it in the second half.Â
A significant factor in the Suns‘ inability to sustain their offensive momentum was Grayson Allen‘s exit due to an ankle injury. While Allen was on the court, the Suns held a +3 advantage.
Phoenix’s big three turned the ball over 11 times, went 3-12 from deep, and scored just 52 points. Typically, when the Suns are successful, their big three contribute at least 80 points.
“We got to handle their pressure better,” Vogel said. “I thought we found some things in the first half that worked really well, in terms of our movement and passing cut offense. We didn’t sustain it when they went on runs. We didn’t stay locked into that plan, had too many lost possessions because of it. But, we’ve had issues with that throughout the course of the year, of taking care of the basketball. It reared its head tonight. This team is an elite defensive team, the best defensive team in the league that we’re playing against, so you have to execute.”
Defensively, Vogel noted that the Suns managed to hold Minnesota to a modest 105 points and limited Anthony Edwards to just 15 points. However, Jaden McDaniels picked up the slack, leading his team with 25 points on 10-17 shooting.
To Vogel’s point, the Suns averaged 118 points against Minnesota during the regular season. Had they maintained that offensive output while keeping the Timberwolves to 105 points as they did in Game 2, the outcome would have been more favorable.
With the Suns now trailing 0-2 in the series, Vogel remains optimistic about their prospects, “We played some of our best basketball down the stretch, and you know, first time going through it in the playoffs. Okay, more adversity. We’ll handle it and we’ll get better from it. So I’m very confident what our games are gonna look like in game three and game four.”
The Suns will look to rebound on Friday inside Footprint Center.
