Sunday couldn't have gone any worse for the Timberwolves.
They entered the day with a chance to be the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with a little help, and at least a win would guarantee them a No. 2 seed. The first two games of the season against the Phoenix Suns also didn't represent a bad matchup, and were a chance for the Timberwolves to show they could handle the Suns in the playoffs.
The Wolves then entered the game and lost 125-106, dropping to the No. 3 seed thanks to wins by both Denver and Oklahoma City, but with the second-best regular season in team history (56-26). The remuneration is as follows. They will be facing the same Suns who have waxed three times this season.
Phoenix held a double-digit lead for the entire second half of each matchup. The Wolves started the night with a disastrous 19 turnovers in the first half, but never got closer than 10 points from there.
Anthony Edwards had just 13 points with five turnovers and seven shot attempts, while Karl-Anthony Towns had just 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting in his second game back from left meniscus surgery. Ta. Towns' late return and how helpless the Timberwolves looked against Phoenix called into question the Timberwolves' chances of making it past the first round of a playoff series for the first time since 2004. game.
“Honestly, it's just the belief in ourselves that we've had all year,” said guard Mike Conley, who scored 17 points. “We have to push through. We're a team that hasn't seen the whole court and didn't think we were better than the other team. Every game, we felt like we could beat them. I think there is, and this is it.'' No different. “
NBA regular season final standings
The Timberwolves fell behind 44-22 in the first quarter due to 11 turnovers and looked far from competing with the Suns on Sunday. Phoenix's starting lineup appears to be having matchup problems for the Timberwolves, who used Towns to guard Grayson Allen, who scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
“Certainly we have a lot of things to consider, a lot of things to fix,” coach Chris Finch said. “That's good for us. There's a lot of things we have to answer for when we get back on the floor this week.”
Bradley Beal led the Suns with 36 points, Devin Booker had 23 points and Kevin Durant added 15 points. Beal said the Suns haven't had any impact on their success against the Timberwolves this season.
“Honestly, it doesn't mean anything,” Beal said. “Yeah, we want to win every regular season game we can, but they're still a good team. You can't just look at the numbers and the box score and think you're going to go out there and run through the series.” ”
Box score: Phoenix 125, Wolves 106
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Towns tried to put on as optimistic a face as possible about Sunday's debacle, saying it was actually good for the Timberwolves to play the opponent they've struggled with most all season in the first round.
“It's going to make us better,” Towns said. “It's going to test our mental strength, it's going to test our discipline. They're going to be a championship team if they get past Round 1. If you expect that, those kinds of things are going to be what you're going to need.' ”
There's a lot to understand heading into Game 1 on Saturday at Target Center. Defensive matchups aside, will the Timberwolves get enough time against Towns in the postseason? Can Edwards be rekindled against a Phoenix team that has consistently doubled Edwards and held him to 14.3 points per game this season?
“They won three games in the regular season. That's it for the regular season,” Edwards said. “The postseason is coming up, so I’m going to be fully prepared.”
Sunday didn't look that way.
sunburned
The Timberwolves earned the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and will face Phoenix in a playoff series with Game 1 starting Saturday. However, the Suns got off to a quick start and won the three games of the regular season series.
Suns 133, Wolves 115 (November 15): The Wolves held the pace for most of the first quarter, but trailed 76-54 at halftime.
Suns 97, Wolves 87 (April 5): Phoenix led 32-20 after the first inning. Grayson Allen scored 23 points and Kevin Durant scored 22 points.
Suns 125, Wolves 106 (Sunday): The Suns dominated from the start, leading 44-22 at the end of the first quarter.
