Led by 40 points from Anthony Edwards and 28 points from Karl-Anthony Towns the Timberwolves finalized their sweep of the Suns, who got a combined 82 points from Kevin Durant and Bradley Booker.
After another decisive victory on Friday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves went up 3-0 in their series against Phoenix Suns and looked to close out the series with a sweep Sunday night at Footprint Center.
It is the first time in franchise history the Timberwolves have been up 3-0 in a series and the first time in 20 years Minnesota has played in an elimination game with a chance to win the series. Wolves Head Coach Chris Finch spoke pregame about the mindset going into an elimination game.
“Same as we have been talking about since Game 1, stay on an even keel. Emotion in the building will be high, emotion from the opponent will be high, emotion from everyone will be high. You have to stay within the game, stay within the game plan, weather the storm. Then, just not try to beat yourself with silly play.”
Minnesota sports fans, in general, are not used to this playoff lead. The last time a men’s Minnesota sports franchise swept an opponent in a playoff series was back in 1985 when the Minnesota North Stars swept the St. Louis Blues. The notable exception are the Minnesota Lynx who swept a whopping 10 series during their 2011-2017 championship dynasty run.
Foul trouble was again the story early on as both Jusuf Nurkić and Rudy Gobert both picked up their second foul less than four minutes into the game. Instead of going with Drew Eubanks, the Suns elected to go with Kevin Durant at center, something they have been hesitant to do so far in this series.
Jaden McDaniels got off to a quick start, scoring eight of the Wolves first 13 points including this drive to the rim.
Jaden McDaniels acrobatic driving layup, assisted by Anthony Edwards pic.twitter.com/EZ42zMvpgI
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) April 29, 2024
Another adjustment the Suns made was to bring in former Timberwolf Josh Okogie to guard Anthony Edwards. Bringing in Okogie allowed the Suns to put less off-ball pressure on Ant, electing to guard Edwards more straight up during the minutes with Okogie on the floor.
The Timberwolves would finish the first quarter shooting 5-22 from the field including 1-9 from beyond the arc, but would find themselves only down 26-25.
A large reason the Wolves were able to keep pace despite very poor shooting was their ability to get to the free-throw line. In the first quarter, the Wolves got to the line 15 times, making 14 of those attempts. No NBA team had made 14 free throws in a first quarter this season before Game 3. Phoenix did it in Game 3 and Minnesota did it tonight in Game 4.
The poor three-point shooting would continue into the second quarter as Minnesota would finish the first half shooting just 22%.
Karl-Anthony Towns was seemingly the only Wolves player who could find their shot from deep as KAT finished the first half making all three of his 3-point attempts. The rest of the team went 1-15.
Karl-Anthony Towns corner 3 pic.twitter.com/xAj8OnyHlG
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) April 29, 2024
On the flip side, the Suns finished the half shooting 50% from deep, giving them a five-point lead heading into halftime.
The lid on the basket would begin to lift to start the second half as Edwards would make his first two shots from deep to start the quarter. Following a missed wide-open 3-pointer from Bradley Beal and a ferocious dunk from McDaniels, forcing a Frank Vogel timeout.
Jaden McDaniels nasty driving dunk pic.twitter.com/74YHLrGdfp
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) April 29, 2024
With Gobert on the bench with four fouls, the Suns were having a much easier time scoring in the paint. Phoenix would finish the third quarter with 36 points in the paint, approaching the most they’ve had in a game this postseason of 40.
The Suns would use those points made close to the basket, along with nine third-quarter made free throws, allowing them to take a 92-90 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
For the first time in this series, the game would come down to crunch-time. With the game tied at 107, Anthony Edwards would begin to put his mark on this game.
Anthony Edwards clutch PnR stepback 3 pic.twitter.com/sW7xAZ930Q
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) April 29, 2024
It wasn’t just the scoring ability late from Ant, but also his willingness to get off the ball when Phoenix brought two defenders.
Jaden McDaniels clutch corner 3 pic.twitter.com/tu2wf0m6hV
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) April 29, 2024
With the Wolves up 117-113, Conley would get fouled by Booker. Conley would fall into Chris Finch, who would go down with an apparent knee injury. Finch exited to the back, carried off by two assistants with President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly trailing right behind. Micah Nori taking over active coaching duties. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Finch is believed to have a torn patellar tendon in his knee.
THIS IS FOR YOU, COACH pic.twitter.com/KOXL30aoBw
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 29, 2024
After two made free throws from Conley, and two missed free throws from Okogie on the other end. The Wolves would take a six-point lead heading into the final minute.
Nori wasted no time helping the team, drawing up a stellar play to help seal the game.
Putting his kids to bed #WolvesBack | #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/IpRpRXi4zf
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) April 29, 2024
That would prove to be enough as after trading free throws, the Timberwolves would win 122-116, completing the four-game sweep of the Phoenix Suns.
Anthony Edwards would lead the Wolves in scoring with 40 points, adding nine rebounds and six assists. Ant became the franchise record-holder for most playoff games of 30+ points with eight, passing Kevin Garnett, whom Edwards tied in Game 3.
Karl-Anthony Towns had possibly the best game of his playoff career with 28 points on a very efficient 11-17, along with 10 rebounds and some excellent defense on the other end of the floor. Jaden McDaniels added 18, while Mike Conley scored or assisted on 16 of the team’s 32 fourth-quarter points.
40+ points to finish a sweep on the road, under the age of 23
– Anthony Edwards tonight
– Kobe Bryant in 2001 at SacramentoAnd that’s it
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) April 29, 2024
Devin Booker was sensational, scoring 49 points in the loss with 20/21 shooting at the free throw line. Kevin Durant played well as well, putting up 33 points on just 17 shots. Outside of Booker and Durant, the team scored just 34 points.
The Timberwolves next opponent will be either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Denver Nuggets, who lead that series 3-1 with the series heading back to the Mile High City for Game 5.
Key Takeaways
The Timberwolves Sweep the Phoenix Suns
For the first time in 20 years, the Minnesota Timberwolves have won a playoff series, sweeping the Phoenix Suns 4-0, becoming this first team in the NBA to punch their ticket to the second round of the playoffs.
This Timberwolves team has been a special one right from the beginning. They won 13 of their 15 games in November, a franchise-record for win in a month. The Wolves were in first-place in the Western Conference for most of the season and finished with the second-most wins in franchise history.
This franchise has been through a lot over the years since trading Kevin Garnett. They’ve had failed lottery teams, injuries, and teammates that didn’t get along to say the least. This team has put all that baggage to the side and been one of the best teams in franchise history and one of the best in the NBA this season.
Mike Conley spoke in the locker room postgame about what it took to win this series and against a very good Suns team.
“We had a lot of adversity. It’s not an easy thing to come in and take two games in Phoenix. Give them credit they fought, they are a great team, well coached. They got guys that will be in the Hall-of-Fame. For us to answer the bell, answer the challenge, every guy one through fifteen was ready to go.
Mike would go one to speak about what makes this roster so special.
“Obviously Ant and KAT, those guys can take us home, but we have a very deep roster. Some of the guys that didn’t play well in Games 1 or 2 came through in Games 3 and 4.”
This group though is not content with just one series victory. Their next matchup will come against either the Los Angeles Lakers, or more likely the defending champion Denver Nuggets. It will take a monumental effort to take down Denver, but if any Timberwolves team can do it, it’s this one.
3-Point Shooting
Despite finishing the season third in 3-point percentage at 38.7%, the Timberwolves have had a tougher time in the playoffs thus far seeing those shots fall. With the sample size of playoff 3s being so low, just four games, it is hard to ascribe a reason to this dip other than randomness.
The Wolves have done an excellent job of creating great looks for each of their shooters, so it is likely just a matter of time before the shots begin to fall closer to the rate they did during the regular season.
When 3-point shots have gone down during this series with Phoenix, it has often been a generator of long runs that have put the game away. With the 3-point shots being such a valuable variable for the Timberwolves offense, they will likely need to keep shooting them with volume, regardless of if they are falling that night or not.
“Hell no!” Ant said postgame about if it’s hard to keep passing to open shooters when the shots aren’t falling. “You got players like Mike Conley, I’m gonna pass it to him every time he’s open.”
The shots did begin to fall in the second half, which speaks to continuing to put up shots, even when they aren’t going down. After an abysmal first half from beyond the arc, the Timberwolves finished the game shooting 41.7% from 3, rebounding from a 1/9 start with a 14/27 finish over the final three quarters.
Karl-Anthony Towns Resets the Playoff Narrative
This is Karl-Anthony Towns’ ninth season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He has been through just about every experience a superstar can, other than playoff success.
KAT has been on tanking teams. He has been on young and promising teams that ultimately didn’t win enough. He’s been on teams that were blown up by another superstar throwing a tantrum during practice, and he’s been on losing teams in the aftermath of that event.
Towns has been torn to shreds by many saying he isn’t tough enough, cares too much about stats, or can’t play well in a playoff setting.
None of that mattered Sunday night when Towns played possibly his best playoff game of his entire career. He made shots when others were unable to and carried the offense in the first half, guarded Kevin Durant and held down the team’s defense when Gobert was out with foul trouble, and deferred late in the game when needed to Ant.
Karl-Anthony Towns comes off the floor after the playoff series win, dapping up Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore. pic.twitter.com/Jkjpl6W9lI
— Ryan Eichten (@REichten) April 29, 2024
Through it all, there were no classic KAT “stray voltage” moments as it has come to be known by Wolves fans. KAT didn’t have a single turnover, very few questionable defensive decisions leading to fouls, and little to no attacks of the baskets into traffic.
“This man to my left.” Anthony Edwards said on the podium about KAT. “He’s a mismatch problem against any team that we play.”
Karl-Anthony Towns has been through a ton with this franchise, the city of Minneapolis, and a fan base starving for playoff success. He could have asked for a trade when the organization didn’t provide him with enough talent. He could have pouted when they traded for another player at his position, requiring him to move to power forward.
But KAT did none of that. He sacrificed when needed, was aggressive when necessary, and tonight went out there and played the best basketball of his life. Timberwolves fans, and the entire state of Minnesota, should feel grateful for Karl-Anthony Towns.
“Playing with my man on my right.” KAT said reflecting the love back onto Ant. “It makes it more special to do it with someone I have so much admiration for. The future is so bright for him I got to put my sunglasses on in a way cause it’s so bright.”
Rotation
Up Next
The Timberwolves will take on either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals. The series will start Saturday, May 4 in Denver if the Nuggets win Game 5 on Monday night. If the Lakers win, it will start on Monday, May 6. The games will air on TNT.