After watching their team dominate the Suns in Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference Playoffs, Timberwolves fans feel confident about Anthony Edwards and Co.’s chances to move on to the second round.
Earlier this week, prior to Game 2, we asked fans two questions about the Minnesota Timberwolves first round playoff series with the Phoenix Suns, and today we’re back with the results!
What needs to continue most in order for the Wolves to beat the Suns and move onto Round 2?
- Dominate the offensive glass
- Anthony Edwards’ scoring efficiency
- Jaden McDaniels’ defense on Devin Booker
- Karl-Anthony Towns playing composed
McDaniels’ defense on Booker took the top spot in resounding fashion (54%), with nothing else remotely close.
Fans ended up nailing the pick, as in Game 2, Edwards struggled to score, Towns got into foul trouble by way of a pair of dumb fouls, and the Wolves actually got beat in both offensive rebounding (11-10) and defensive rebounding (30-29). But McDaniels surely maintained his level of defensive excellence.
Booker in Game 1 scored 18 points but shot just 5/16 from the floor and just 3/10 from inside the arc and was a -15 in 38 minutes. McDaniels spent the most time guarding Book of any Wolves player, holding him to just three points on 1/6 shooting across 35 possessions.
It was just another bullet point in what has been an incredible season for McDaniels in slowing down the four-time All-Star. Through Game 2, Jaden has allowed Booker to score just 26 points on 8/22 shooting (36.4%) and has forced more turnovers (five) than he has committed shooting fouls (three).
Partially as a result of that, Booker didn’t even attempt a shot against McDaniels in Game 2. Not one. McDaniels spent twice as much time (50.6% of his defensive possessions) guarding Kevin Durant as he spent on Booker (25.2%), so Nickeil Alexander-Walker took over the duties on Booker, and held him to four points and two turnovers across 30 possessions. As you can see in the table, NAW has been even better on Booker this season, allowing just 10 points on 3/16 shooting (18.8%) and forcing seven turnovers across 95.6 total possessions, per NBA.com.
McDaniels in this series, specifically, has been tremendous defending guards, allowing just five points on 2/10 shooting to Booker and Bradley Beal. Durant has gotten his, but Slim has certainly made it tough on the future Hall of Famer outside of a bailout foul shooting a 3-pointer in Game 2.
Our second question was quite simple.
Predict the result of the Wolves/Suns series:
- Wolves in 4/5
- Wolves in 6/7
- Suns in 5
- Suns in 6/7
Zero fans voted the Suns in four or five games, and they would be correct, as Phoenix can now only win in a six or seven-game series. I initially picked the Wolves in seven games in my preview, but it’s hard not to like the Timberwolves to take out the brooms after the way they broke the Suns’ spirit in both each of the first two games of the series, winning in dominant fashion.
We will see what happens on Friday night as the series shifts to Phoenix for Game 3, but Wolves fans should be feeling confident about not only Game 3, but the rest of the series, too. Only 7% of teams have climbed out of an 0-2 hole. Suns fans know that, as it happened to them in the 2021 NBA Finals when Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks went on to win in six games after falling down 0-2.
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