T-Wolves worst matchup, turnovers downfall: Takeaways from Suns season-ending Game 4 loss

The season is over. Again.

The Phoenix Suns continue to come up short after reaching the 2021 finals. They haven’t advanced past the second round since and this season ended in the first round in sweeping fashion.

The Minnesota Timberwolves won their first playoff series in 20 years taking out the sixth-seeded Suns in four with Sunday’s 122-116 victory before a sellout crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center.

This was also the first time the Suns have been swept in the playoffs since 1999.

A team with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal isn’t supposed to go out like this. The Suns were the first team eliminated from the playoffs after going into the season with championship expectations.

While coach Frank Vogel says he has “full support” from team owner Mat Ishbia, there should be a deep evaluation of the job he and his staff did as is the case for any team that underperforms. With the way coaches have been fired, i.e., the Bucks booting Adrian Griffin midway through this season with a 30-13 record, it’s not a surprise Vogel’s future remains in question.

Here are takeaways from Sunday's Game 4 as Booker scored playoff a career-high 49 points and Kevin Durant went for 33, but the rest of the team managed 34 points on 13-of-36 shooting. Anthony Edwards closed out his first playoff series win with a team-high 40 in leading the third-seeded T-Wolves while Karl-Anthony Towns delivered a 28-point, 10-rebound performance.

Wishing a speedy recovery for T-Wolves coach Chris Finch, who had to be helped off the court with a knee injury after Mike Conley crashed into him when bumped out of bounds by Booker late in the game.

The worst matchup for Suns

Didn’t think that was the case when considering how the Suns won all three regular-season matchups, but Minnesota took that last loss to Phoenix in Minneapolis that ended the regular season personal.

Finch had their undivided attention in having essentially a week to prepare for a team that owned them in the regular season.

Towns had some time to get healthy from a knee injury that kept him sidelined for 18 games. His second game back was against Phoenix to end the regular season.

Edwards was more than ready to go up against Booker to show he’s that dude at the two and the veteran Conley had a heart-to-heart with the team before the series about wanting to take advantage of this opportunity to make a deep playoff run on the backend of his career.

While the Suns were reveling in avoiding the play-in, getting some rest and feeling good about the matchup, the third-seeded T-Wolves were eager to show they could play Phoenix. Then Minnesota proceeded to sweep the Suns behind Edwards, who was the best player in the series. Simply spectacular, Edwards had Beal all out of sorts by Game 4.

Rudy Gobert didn’t allow the Suns to run him off the floor for most of the series as he played great defense on the perimeter and dominated inside and Jaden McDaniels was more than up for the challenge of defending Booker. Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker outplayed Phoenix’s bench by themselves and Conley hit clutch shots all series.

Minnesota was the higher seed, played like it and should be advancing instead of the Suns, who didn’t make the adjustments to offset losing the physicality and hustle battle.

Turnovers doom Suns again

Now this shouldn't really be a surprise.

The Suns were 25th in the league in turnovers and points allowed off turnovers in the regular season. They were last in both categories in the postseason going into Game 4.

So while they committed just 12 Sunday and Minnesota only scored 14 points off turnovers, that final quarter was a microcosm of how their inability to protect the ball proved to be a major downfall for the Suns. Phoenix turned the ball over seven times in the fourth that led to nine Minnesota points. The T-Wolves outscored the Suns, 32-24, in the game’s final 12 minutes.

Beal committed five turnovers in the fourth to cap a crash-and-burn performance – nine points on 4-of-13 shooting, six turnovers, fouled out and couldn't hold Edwards. This further gives credence to Phoenix needing a point guard. Beal took on a role as part of his sacrificing for the team, but he's a scorer first.

He can facilitate, but there were two passes in particular that one can't make.

Beal fired a cross-court pass to Durant, who wasn't even looking, and then tried to find him in the opposite corner with a long pass for a 3 that was stolen. It's the last 12 minutes of the season, desperate times called for desperate measures, but turnovers truly nullified a team that shot 51.4% from the field, went 10-of-26 from 3 and 30-of-36 from the line.

Final adjustment: Going small

The Suns going small is nothing new. They've done it all season, particularly when down big in a game.

With the season on the line, Vogel went back to it as he played Nassir Little, who hadn't played at least 10 minutes in a game since February, and Josh Okogie, who gave the Suns a spark at the end of Game 3. In turn, he didn't play Drew Eubanks, who was up-and-down in the series, and 7-footer Bol Bol, who only saw meaningful action in Game 3.

Okogie earned the chance to play Game 4 with how he defended Edwards with a physicality and competitiveness the Suns lacked against the rising superstar.

So how did small-ball work out? Well, the Suns didn't win, so ultimately, it didn't work, but the move delivered on the idea of playing Gobert off the floor. He had just nine points and five rebounds in just 25 minutes of work.

However, not having Grayson Allen hurt the Suns in terms of generating 3s, which is why the small ball lineup can be so effective on the offensive end. The NBA's top 3-point shooter in terms of percentage in the regular season missed a second straight game with a right ankle sprain after injuring it in Game 1 and rolling it again in Game 2.

A healthy Allen might have been able to shake loose for 3s with the T-Wolves spreaded out on defense, but with him out and Beal plagued with foul trouble, Eric Gordon wound up logging 39 minutes. He scored just six points on 2-of-7 shooting (2-of-5 from 3) and kept finding himself battling the much bigger and taller Towns.

Towns is a 7-footer who has lived and breathed in the post, but can score on the perimeter and quite frankly is more comfortable out there. The Suns don't have a five who can score inside and outside. Jusuf Nurkic showed that dual threat in the past, but his jump shot was almost non-existent and his 3-ball essentially disappeared in his first season with the Suns.

The game was closer than the previous three. There were 23 lead changes and 21 ties. Being smaller actually forced Phoenix to really battle on defense, but in the end, going small didn't save the Suns on Sunday or save their season.

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: T-Wolves worst matchup: Takeaways from Suns season-ending Game 4 loss