On April 21, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs officially began, and the Timberwolves played against the Suns at home. In this game, the two teams fell into a tug-of-war, but after the Suns offense fell into a slump, the Timberwolves opened up the difference, narrowing the gap to 4 points in the second half, but the Suns suddenly fell silent, only scored 5 points in 7 minutes, and Edwards scored consecutive points, directly stretching the difference to more than 20 points, and the game lost suspense early. In the end, the Timberwolves defeated the Suns 120-95 and made a good start to the playoffs, leading 1-0.
In this game, the Suns Big Three faced off against Edwards and Towns, the two teams came up into a tug-of-war, you went back and forth on the offensive end, and the point difference has not been opened, and the Suns relied on O'Neal to hit 2 consecutive three-pointers at the last moment, and took a one-point lead in the first quarter. At the beginning of the second quarter, the two teams were still in a tug-of-war, with the score alternately leading, but then the Timberwolves began to score consecutive points, while the Suns fell into a slump, and the point difference was gradually widened, falling behind by 10 points at the end of the half.
In the second half, the Sun launched a counterattack, once narrowing the difference to 4 points, and when I thought I was going to achieve a comeback, the Sun suddenly fell silent and missed consecutive shots. On the other hand, the Timberwolves performed well on the offensive end, and Edwards stepped up and faced Durant in a row, scoring 18 points in a single quarter and stretching the gap to 20 points. In the final quarter, the Timberwolves were still hot on the outside, and Reed, Walker and Edwards hit one after another, completely widening the point difference, and the game lost suspense. In the end, the Suns lost 95-120 to the Timberwolves and missed a good start.
In this game, the Suns were directly beaten back to their original shape, and the defense was really like paper paste, and once it fell into a passive situation, it was really difficult to catch up with the score. The offensive end also completely relied on the Big Three, this time Durant did not feel good, got 31 points and 7 rebounds, but unfortunately Booker and Beal were decent and failed to play, and in the end the team lasted for three quarters. This time, Booker scored 18 points on 5-of-16 shooting, and Beal only had 15 points.
The Timberwolves played at the level they deserved, and their defensive performance was very strong, that is, they let the big three on the opposite side continue to play alone, and their core Edwards also ushered in an explosion, shooting 14 of 24, 4 of 8 three-pointers, scoring a game-high 33 points, as well as 9 rebounds and 6 assists, including 18 points in the third quarter, helping the team withstand the Suns' counterattack. In addition, Towns on the inside had 16 points and 7 rebounds, and Gobert had 14 points and 16 rebounds, playing very well.