2024 NBA Playoffs - West 1st Round: #3 Minnesota Timberwolves vs. #6 Phoenix Suns (MIN SWEEPS 4-0)

[Wolveswin]

The Wolves have very good, athletic defenders to put on Durant, Booker and Beal

Do they? They have Edwards and McDaniels and that's it. Even in the starting lineup they have small and old Conley on Beal and KAT chasing Allen around screens. IMO the Suns are much better equipped to defend the Wolves than vice versa.

I wouldn’t agree.

Towns takes KD with McDaniels as secondary matchup.

McDaniels guards Booker with NAW off bench (which frees McD to take KD).

Edwards locks down Beal - and when he needs rest or to help on Booker - Conley steps in on Beal.

And whole time, Gobert is playing CF on defense.

[darmani]

The Wolves have very good, athletic defenders to put on Durant, Booker and Beal

Do they? They have Edwards and McDaniels and that's it. Even in the starting lineup they have small and old Conley on Beal and KAT chasing Allen around screens. IMO the Suns are much better equipped to defend the Wolves than vice versa.

I wouldn’t agree.

Towns takes KD with McDaniels as secondary matchup.

McDaniels guards Booker with NAW off bench (which frees McD to take KD).

Edwards locks down Beal - and when he needs rest or to help on Booker - Conley steps in on Beal.

And whole time, Gobert is playing CF on defense.

That's not what they've been doing against the Suns. And putting KAT on Durant or NAW on Booker would be a disaster for the Wolves IMO. There's no one KAT or Naz can guard in this series and that's gonna be a big problem for the Wolves.

[Wolveswin]

Do they? They have Edwards and McDaniels and that's it. Even in the starting lineup they have small and old Conley on Beal and KAT chasing Allen around screens. IMO the Suns are much better equipped to defend the Wolves than vice versa.

I wouldn’t agree.

Towns takes KD with McDaniels as secondary matchup.

McDaniels guards Booker with NAW off bench (which frees McD to take KD).

Edwards locks down Beal - and when he needs rest or to help on Booker - Conley steps in on Beal.

And whole time, Gobert is playing CF on defense.

That's not what they've been doing against the Suns. And putting KAT on Durant or NAW on Booker would be a disaster for the Wolves IMO. There's no one KAT or Naz can guard in this series and that's gonna be a big problem for the Wolves.

So wrong. But beauty is we will see shortly

[Klomp]

That's not what they've been doing against the Suns.

Why would Minnesota show their whole hand, when it looked like this was a probable matchup no matter how Sunday turned out?

[Klomp]

They should stick Towns on Durant- Durant has no blow-by ability anymore and gets the bulk of his offense on jump shots. Towns could just put a hand-up on his shots and hope Durant misses.

They should use mcdaniels on Booker as hes their most dynamic player on offense and puts real pressure. Let Book resort of tough mid-ranges and 3 pointers.

Then Edwards on Beal as hes strong enough and quick enough to bother Beal. Beal will play worse as the lights get brighter and Ant will definitely make him work for his points and get in his head a bit.

Similarly, I've wondered if we could see them put Gobert on Durant for stretches. I just think whether Towns or Gobert, it just helps the rest of the defensive matchups make much more sense.

[Klomp]

Phoenix has good to very good midrange shooters in Durant, Booker and Beal. Only 6 teams shot fewer three pointers this season. So they're more than willing to shoot those mid-range shots. When they do shoot threes... Phoenix was 5th in the league in percentage. Against the Timberwolves, they shot 49% on three pointers, with MANY of them wide open. How are they getting so wide open?

I think this has been the biggest key of the regular season. I think our defense encourages midrange jumpers, which is where this team typically feasts.

[mkot]

The Wolves defense is legit, we were just shooting the ball very well the 3 games we played, which happened. 50% from 3 is not a sustainable offense so my brain says Wolves in 6.

[John Murdoch]

Why does Phoenix guard Edwards so well?

[Crives]

Why does Phoenix guard Edwards so well?

I think it starts on the other side of the ball- part of it is phx has maybe the most “skilled” starting/closing lineup from a shooting/ ball handling standpoint, which has led to them getting great looks by taking advantage of KAT or Naz playing the 4 alongside Rudy, which really limits the timberwolves defense into offense game and probably slowing down Edward’s a bit.

The other angle is phx doesn’t have any absolutely elite lock down defenders (aside from KD in limited spurts) in their starting lineup, but Booker/Beal/Allen/KD doesn’t leave any small/weak defenders to exploit. Edward’s isn’t exactly a great decision maker, and I have gotten the feeling he hasn’t been able to use his elite athleticism to attack phx like he has been able to attack players like Steph/kyrie/MPJ/Murray/Fox/mccollum/reaves/harden to name a few from teams out west, Most teams have a weak link on the perimeter

[sunsbum]

I said suns in 4 on our forum because thats our motto but in all honesty not a single suns fan has actual faith or knows what were going to see out there from game to game. We are riding a 3 game winning streak right now so us fans are feeling really good about ourselves but game 1 could easily be a 40pt blow out on phoenixs end and absolutely none of us would bat an eye.

[Phystic]

I said suns in 4 on our forum because thats our motto but in all honesty not a single suns fan has actual faith or knows what were going to see out there from game to game. We are riding a 3 game winning streak right now so us fans are feeling really good about ourselves but game 1 could easily be a 40pt blow out on phoenixs end and absolutely none of us would bat an eye.

100% this. I honestly wouldn't be surprised by any result at this point. Most bipolar team I've watched in a long time

[LaLover11]

Who's the best player in this series?

[Chuck Everett]

Who's the best player in this series?

Kevin Durant.

[cupcakesnake]

Phoenix does an amazing job of getting our bigs really far away from the rim and either forces us into confusing rotations, or nabbing a nice matchup (Booker against KAT or any guard against Naz). I was just watching some footage and was shocked at the number of time Phoenix was able to start possessions by bringing both bigs to the top of the floor.

I'm not sure we can play double big against them... Staying big worked for us all year but this is the one team that was able to really take advantage. They didn't just take advantage, they methodically and easily exposed us. They basically turn our entire defense inside out! Big on the perimeter, and small guards forced run into the paint to rim protect.

I think this might just not be a Naz series. Shelf him or limit KAT's minutes, and play a whole lot more NAW. We have the personnel to defend Phoenix, but I don't think we can use that personnel and play double big a lot.

I think we'll know what's happening in this series after 1 game (maybe 2 if game 1 has outlier shooting from either team). Either Chris Finch is willing to immediately sacrifice our identity to survive a nightmare matchup, or Minnesota is dying on the hill that got them here!

[cupcakesnake]

Why does Phoenix guard Edwards so well?

They key on him heavily. Basically their gameplan has been to crowd him and play his passing lanes. They feel they can bait him into a bad decision, and they've been correct about that a lot.

It will be interesting to see if Ant can come out of the film room ready to avoid the reads Phoenix wants him to make. He's had a really hard time passing against them because they know where he likes to pass. Ant has been a good playmaker this year, but it's still pretty rudimentary stuff (touch the paint and hit the corner), and Phoenix is sitting on it.

I have major doubts about Minnesota's ability to defend Phoenix, but it would be disappointing if this team can't crack Phoenix's mediocre defense with a few adjustments.

[Ambrose]

They should stick Towns on Durant- Durant has no blow-by ability anymore and gets the bulk of his offense on jump shots. Towns could just put a hand-up on his shots and hope Durant misses.

They should use mcdaniels on Booker as hes their most dynamic player on offense and puts real pressure. Let Book resort of tough mid-ranges and 3 pointers.

Then Edwards on Beal as hes strong enough and quick enough to bother Beal. Beal will play worse as the lights get brighter and Ant will definitely make him work for his points and get in his head a bit.

Similarly, I've wondered if we could see them put Gobert on Durant for stretches. I just think whether Towns or Gobert, it just helps the rest of the defensive matchups make much more sense.

This might be the worst idea possible. This is asking to get swept.

[spanishninja]

Why does Phoenix guard Edwards so well?

I think it starts on the other side of the ball- part of it is phx has maybe the most “skilled” starting/closing lineup from a shooting/ ball handling standpoint, which has led to them getting great looks by taking advantage of KAT or Naz playing the 4 alongside Rudy, which really limits the timberwolves defense into offense game and probably slowing down Edward’s a bit.

The other angle is phx doesn’t have any absolutely elite lock down defenders (aside from KD in limited spurts) in their starting lineup, but Booker/Beal/Allen/KD doesn’t leave any small/weak defenders to exploit. Edward’s isn’t exactly a great decision maker, and I have gotten the feeling he hasn’t been able to use his elite athleticism to attack phx like he has been able to attack players like Steph/kyrie/MPJ/Murray/Fox/mccollum/reaves/harden to name a few from teams out west, Most teams have a weak link on the perimeter

the decision making is really the key. Right now, the gap between Ant and Book on offense is in playmaking. While Booker is able to at least cosplay to some extent as a point guard, Edwards is still not quite to that level in that capacity. assuming we continue to cover Ant very tightly, we are betting that he can't make the play for others effectively, and/or his teammates can't beat us like he can. Will be interesting to see how KAT and Reid do offensively. both have potential to get hot, but they both kind of need to be set up, especially from the perimeter.

[shrink]

MIN’s defense is built to take away 3 pointers, and Gobert defends the paint. No defense can stop everything, so they allow teams to take mid-rangers. While a poor shot for most teams analytically, both Booker and Durant are so good at them that they make sense for PHX.

That said, MIN is loaded with good defenders. McDaniels and Edwards got a lot of consideration for All Defense last year, but Conley’s defensive numbers have been great, Nickiel Alexander-Walker and Kyle Anderson are very good, and of course, they have Rudy Gobert.

[spanishninja]

Phoenix does an amazing job of getting our bigs really far away from the rim and either forces us into confusing rotations, or nabbing a nice matchup (Booker against KAT or any guard against Naz). I was just watching some footage and was shocked at the number of time Phoenix was able to start possessions by bringing both bigs to the top of the floor.

I'm not sure we can play double big against them... Staying big worked for us all year but this is the one team that was able to really take advantage. They didn't just take advantage, they methodically and easily exposed us. They basically turn our entire defense inside out! Big on the perimeter, and small guards forced run into the paint to rim protect.

I think this might just not be a Naz series. Shelf him or limit KAT's minutes, and play a whole lot more NAW. We have the personnel to defend Phoenix, but I don't think we can use that personnel and play double big a lot.

I think we'll know what's happening in this series after 1 game (maybe 2 if game 1 has outlier shooting from either team). Either Chris Finch is willing to immediately sacrifice our identity to survive a nightmare matchup, or Minnesota is dying on the hill that got them here!

hmm I was kind of thinking Naz could be a key in neutralizing Phoenix's offense, since he isn't quite as limited to the paint as Gobert. How have Naz/KAT lineups fared this year overall?

[shrink]

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