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Anatomy of a sweep: Why the Timberwolves were too much for Phoenix

jace frederick, pioneer press
·5 min read

The Timberwolves made history Sunday, not just in terms of their franchise, but the Minnesota sports scene at large.

By taking out Phoenix in four games, the Wolves became the first Minnesota franchise to sweep a best-of-7 playoff series, which goes to show how rare it is to beat a fellow playoff team in four consecutive bouts. What makes the feat all the more impressive is that Minnesota lost all three contests to Phoenix during the regular season.

The Suns actually entered the first-round series as the betting favorite to advance.

So what changed? What keyed Minnesota’s unparalleled first-round success?

Ant

Should the Nuggets advance past the Lakers, Denver will likely be favored over Minnesota. Part of that is because Denver has home-court advantage. Part of that is because the Nuggets have the respect that comes with being the defending NBA champions.

And part of it is because Denver has the advantage of the best player in the series, and in basketball, Nikola Jokic. But that gap likely isn’t as large as perceived because Anthony Edwards is closing it.

Before they started, Durant likely would have been considered by many the best player in the series with Phoenix. But Edwards thoroughly outplayed him over the course of the series. He’s a high-end, on-ball defender with a jumper and an ability to attack the rim that require the eyes of multiple defenders to be glued on him.

And, when a defense commits to him in that way, Edwards has evolved to the point where he’ll make the right read to free others. His mere presence put Phoenix at a massive disadvantage from the jump.

“Each year as a young kid, he’s 22 years old, and you see it, every year, things start to slow down,” Wolves assistant coach Micah Nori said. “What I mean by that is they’d put two on him at times. And now, he’s constantly making the right play. And I think as things slow down, he sees where he’s open from.

“I think a lot of it is that experience, but I think the other thing is … that I think the USA Basketball (last summer) was good for him to be around that level of competition all summer and continue to play. At the end of the day, I think it’s his experience, being around Mike, Rudy, Karl, pros and those types of guys have continued to talk to him and help him. He’s making the right play, and he’s got that ‘it’ factor.”

Physicality

Phoenix possesses as much offensive firepower as any team in the NBA. It has three All-Star scorers in Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker, a skilled center in Jusuf Nurkic and a few shooters to place around them. Those lineups gave Minnesota fits in the regular season.

But Wolves wing Jaden McDaniels noted Minnesota did two things particularly well on the defensive end in the first-round series.

No. 1: The Wolves stuck to the gameplan. There were a few slippages in Game 4 — Phoenix’s most profitable offensive contest of the series — McDaniels noted. But, by in large, the Wolves were locked in.

No. 2, and perhaps most important: The Wolves ramped up their physicality.

“Like picking up the pressure full court,” McDaniels said. “Always making it hard for them.”

Any team with Rudy Gobert patrolling the paint will tout an inherent baseline of physicality. But Anthony Edwards, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and McDaniels were super handsy and consistently got into the bodies of the likes of Booker and Beal.

Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns dominated the glass as Phoenix didn’t have the grit or size to compete for rebounds. Minnesota out-rebounded Phoenix 185-130 over the four games.

That will physically tire just about any player over the course of a game and series. Eventually, you just run out of the juice required to make a defensive rotation or win a race to a 50-50 ball. McDaniels noted the Suns wearing down in the infant stages of the series.

“I knew, shoot, the first game, to be honest,” McDaniels said. “They was kind of crying about the physicality and stuff.”

And that’s when the Wolves likely had them beat.

“We just was more physical and played harder than them,” McDaniels said. “That’s what they did the first three times we played (in the regular season), and then we just flipped it on them.”

Depth

Alexander-Walker was massive for Minnesota in Game 1 and Game 3. Mike Conley scored 10 points to keep Minnesota afloat in the second quarter of Game 3.

McDaniels starred in Game 2. Towns was Edwards’ Robin in Game 4. Gobert controlled the interior throughout the campaign. Phoenix got 82 points from Durant and Booker in Game 4, while no one else scored in double-figures for the Suns.

It’s been a common theme throughout the campaign for Minnesota, and was again prevalent in this series. The Wolves are simply deeper than most foes. Players No. 6-9 in their rotation usually trump whatever the opponent is bringing off the bench. Foul trouble and even injuries don’t have nearly the same impact on Minnesota that those potential hazards have on others.

The Wolves come at you in waves. Phoenix’s army wasn’t nearly as large as the one Minnesota trotted out.

“That’s the way our team is built. We’ve got Ant and Kat and these guys that can take us home. We have a very deep roster,” Conley said. “Guys who maybe didn’t play as much this series but can win us games next series. Guys who didn’t play as well right now, Game 1 or 2, but they played well Game 3 or 4. We have a bunch of ways we can win, bunch of different ways to attack you, and that’s been our strength.”

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