On April 14, the Suns faced off against the Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the best teams in the NBA. Due to their high seeding, this was going to be a tough matchup for them.
Luckily, the Suns blew them out 125-106. While their beating this team is great, this win was much more important for the Suns’ postseason.
Particularly, this win helped them avoid the Play-in tournament and clinch a playoff spot. It almost seemed like a guarantee that they would be Play-in bound, so seeing them avoid that scenario shows the resilience and perseverance of this team. But Phoenix’s job isn’t finished.
Like any NBA team, they are trying their best to win it all. Their first obstacle for this process begins with them rematching with the Timberwolves in a playoff setting.
As a team, the Phoenix Suns must gameplan and highlight many things about the Minnesota Timberwolves to advance. That game plan starts with a couple of Minnesota players.
אנתוני אדוארדס
The first thing that many think of when it comes to this Timberwolves team is their guard Anthony Edwards. Since he entered the league, he’s been a borderline star and he’s only gotten better since. Now in his fourth season, he’s a full-fledged star.
To improve their chances, they’ll have to find ways to slow Edwards down. Fortunately, that is a difficult yet possible task.
For example, last matchup, they managed to slow him down. Despite Edwards playing 35 minutes, he scored 13 points on three of seven shooting. Of course, Edwards was guarded by many of the Suns’ guards, but the most significant matchup seemed to be against Bradley Beal.
By no means did Beal lock him down but he seemed to play a pivotal role in making him struggle. It even got to the point that an altercation happened. Here’s what happened below:
Beal seemed to set the tone defensively by being as physical as possible. When speaking about Edwards, Beal stated, “Be aggressive with him, man. Make him see a lot of bodies.”
He knows that he’s a tough player but is willing to lead the charge in guarding him. Although this is a small sample size, it demonstrates that Edwards isn’t invincible.
This loss displays that it’s possible to slow him down. That it’s possible to get in his head. That a breakout performance isn’t a guarantee.
That weakness with the addition that the Timberwolves don’t have a lot of playoff experience, make the Suns’ chances of a deep playoff run skyrocket. But obviously, Anthony Edwards isn’t the only player they have to watch out for.
קארל-אנתוני טאונס
Before Edwards entered the league, Karl-Anthony Towns was the star of the Timberwolves. He was a good scorer, rebounder and shooter (for a big man).
For his career, he’s בממוצע 22.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks. He’s בְּעִיטָה 52.4% from the field, 39.8% from three, and 83.9% from the line.
Although he’s been with the Timberwolves for nearly a decade, he’s taken a backseat to let Edwards blossom. But that doesn’t mean he’s someone that the Phoenix Suns should underestimate.
This season, Towns has בממוצע 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks. He’s בְּעִיטָה 50.4% from the field, 41.6% from three, and 87.3% from the line.
Offensively, he’s no slouch. Also, as stated כאן, Towns has confidence in his jumper, in which the Suns can take advantage of.
He has so much confidence that he settles for jumpers a lot of the time. So as a team, the Suns will have to force him to take as many contested jumpers as possible.
They might even need to force him into post-ups, which aren’t a strong suit in his game. This job will likely land on players like Bol Bol, Jusuf Nurkic, Thaddeus Young, etc.
On paper, that sounds simple. But, once again, he’s a tough shot-maker, so it’s all up to chance and how physically the game can be played.
Overall, guarding him will be a team effort and the Suns’ big men have their work cut out for them. But it’s a possible task.
לנעול ב!
However, these player matchups are the tip of the iceberg. In addition to these tough matchups, they also must look out for players like Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels, etc. for a multitude of reasons.
Overall, this matchup will be a tough task, but the Suns have the resilience to get through it. They have the talent, roster construction, and experience to beat the Timberwolves in a seven-game series.
But one slip up and everything can go awry. Hopefully, they start off the series strong on April 20.
הישאר מעודכן לעוד ה-NBA תוכן, כולל מהלכי אמצע העונה, עדכוני חוזים ועוד קטעים על כל קבוצה.
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- מקור: https://thegamehaus.com/nba/the-start-of-the-phoenix-suns-playoff-run/2024/04/16/
