Minnesota Timberwolves @ Phoenix Suns
Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 9:30 PM ET
Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ | Game ID: 42300164
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
PHX 26 35 31 24 116MIN 25 31 34 32 122
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Timberwolves outlast Suns to finish sweep. Minnesota coach Chris Finch leaves with knee injury
PHOENIX -- — Minnesota star Anthony Edwards noticed early in the third quarter that the Phoenix Suns switched up their defense, playing him one-on-one most of the time instead of using the double teams from the first half.
The budding superstar took that as a challenge.
“It was like — you've got to beat us,” Edwards said. “And I showed them.”
Edwards scored 31 of his 40 points in the second half, Karl-Anthony Towns added 28 and the Timberwolves pulled away late to beat the Suns 122-116 on Sunday night and sweep the first-round playoff series.
The franchise's first playoff series win in 20 years came after coach Chris Finch left the game late in the fourth after an inadvertent collision with Wolves guard Mike Conley . The team said he had a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee.
Edwards finished 13 of 23 from the field, including 7 of 13 from 3-point range. The 22-year-old threw down a powerful, one-handed jam to give Minnesota a 115-111 lead with 2:14 left.
“We've watched him grow, evolve as a leader, as a player, as a man,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “It's been fun.”
Phoenix would never recover.
The Wolves finished off the Suns despite Devin Booker’s 49 points on 13 of 21 shooting. He also made 20 of 21 free throws. Kevin Durant added 33, but the rest of the team struggled.
Assistant coach Micah Nori took over for Finch for the final 1:41 and the Wolves closed with relative ease.
“Everybody has their role, everybody has each other's back,” Nori said. “I know it sounds corny, but it's just next man up, even with the coaching staff.”
Minnesota's Jaden McDaniels scored 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and the Wolves had a 44-33 rebounding advantage.
It was a tight fourth quarter and the Suns tied it at 107 on Royce O'Neale 's 3-pointer with 4:30 remaining. Edwards and Jaden McDaniels hit back-to-back corner 3s to put the Wolves up 113-109 with 3:20 left.
The Wolves now wait to see if they will face the Denver Nuggets or Los Angeles Lakers in the second round.
“Their whole team created a lot of problems for us,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said. “The role players, the stars. Anthony Edwards is a special, special talent. And their bigs played really well.”
Edwards hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third and McDaniels followed with a powerful dunk, helping Minnesota turn a six-point deficit into a 68-66 lead. It was part of a big third for Edwards, who hit four 3-pointers and had 15 points.
Booker responded, scoring 18 points during the quarter and the Suns took a 92-90 lead into the fourth. It was a tough game for three-time All-Star Bradley Beal , who scored just nine points on 4-of-13 shooting before fouling out.
“They were executing late and we didn't,” Booker said.
The Suns threw various looks at the Wolves in the first half, using five perimeter players at various times to try to pull big men Gobert and Towns away from the basket.
Booker hit a fallaway jumper at the buzzer to give the Suns a 61-56 halftime lead. Durant led Phoenix with 20 points before the break, while Booker had 17. Towns had 15 for the Wolves.
Suns guard Grayson Allen missed his second straight game because of a sprained ankle suffered in Game 1 that he aggravated in Game 2. He averaged 13.5 points per game and led the NBA in 3-point percentage during the regular season.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
PHXBB B. Beal
DB D. Booker
EG E. Gordon
JN J. Nurkić
JO J. Okogie
KD K. Durant
NL N. Little
NU Nurkic
RO R. O'Neale
MINAE A. Edwards
JM J. McDaniels
KA K. Anderson
KT K. Towns
MC M. Conley
NA N. Alexander-Walker
NR N. Reid
RG R. Gobert
PHX/MIN the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur