Will Minnesota protect their home court or does Phoenix steal Game 1?
Who: Phoenix Suns (49-33, No. 6 Seed) at Minnesota Timberwolves (56-26, No. 3 Seed)
When: 12:30 AZ Time
Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Watch: ESPN
Listen: KMVP 98.7
The NBA Playoffs are finally here and the Phoenix Suns are set to commence their journey to capture the franchise’s first championship. Their first foe? The scrappy, resilient, defensive-minded Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Suns dominated the season series against Minnesota, winning all three games convincingly including the last game of the season that helped Phoenix secure their spot in the top-six and avoid the Play-In Tournament.
Minnesota and Phoenix are entering the series the healthiest and freshest they’ve been facing each other this season. In the first matchup, Bradley Beal did not play and Minnesota was on the second night of a back-to-back. In the second matchup, Karl-Anthony Towns did not play, and in the third game, he was in his second game back from his injury.
Both teams’ top players should be at full strength now for what should be an entertaining series between a Phoenix team that relies on their finesse and mid-range shooting and a Minnesota squad best at playing pestering defense and employing Anthony Edwards.
Last year, the Suns lost both of their game 1s but in the previous two seasons, they were 6/6 in game 1s. This series marks just the second series in the last four years that the Suns will be the road team.
Probable Starters
Suns
- Devin Booker
- Bradley Beal
- Grayson Allen
- Kevin Durant
- Jusuf Nurkić
Timberwolves
- Mike Conley
- Anthony Edwards
- Jaden McDaniels
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Rudy Gobert
Injury Report
Suns
- Damion Lee – OUT (Right Meniscus Surgery)
Timberwolves
NONE
Uniform Matchup
What to Watch For
The Suns lacked consistent energy and a keen attention to detail throughout the year. In their last three games of the year, the team upped their focus, especially against the Wolves in game 82. While this would be a silly thing to monitor for most playoff teams, it needs to be paid attention to considering how the Suns played all year. The tone that the Suns set in Game 1 could impact the outcome of the series.
Frank Vogel has been pretty consistent with his rotations, ‘playing mainly Drew Eubanks, Royce O’Neale, and Eric Gordon off the bench. It will be interesting to see if he sticks with just those guys if the Valley has trouble with Minnesota’s size. Perhaps Bol Bol and Thaddeus Young could get some playing time if Vogel doesn’t like what he sees.
Key to a Suns Win
It’s that time of year when the two most important factors to wins are health and what team has the best players. Devin Booker, Bradley, and Kevin Durant need to outplay Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards, and Rudy Gobert. When the Suns beat the Nuggets in games three and four of the Western Conference Semifinals last year, it was because Booker and Durant outplayed Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray.
Both teams have the same rest advantage and the squads have had the opportunity to spend hours reviewing film on how the other plays. The Suns need their best players to outplay Minnesota’s best players and they will be in a good spot to succeed.
Prediction
While I think the Suns win the series, the way the Timberwolves got humiliated by Phoenix on their home floor just a week ago makes me believe Minnesota will come out with some pride and protect their home court in what should be a long, exciting playoff series.
Timberwolves 105, Suns 98