The Suns dominated the regular season against the Timberwolves, and Durant's presence was key to the Suns' next game. In the first game of the playoffs between the two teams, Durant was still brave, but the Timberwolves did a good job of preparation, and Edwards took the lead, scoring 33 points and leading the Timberwolves to take the lead. On April 21, 2024, Beijing time, the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Phoenix Suns 120-95. Durant had 31 points and seven rebounds, and Edwards had 33 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
The Suns were able to rush to sixth place in the West in the final minute of the regular season, giving their playoff prospects infinitely optimistic, and even if they need to face the Timberwolves, who have an interior advantage, the Suns have a big psychological advantage. It's just that the Timberwolves don't plan to give the Suns too much hope, McDaniels scored 2 points after the opening, and the Suns are naturally led by the experienced Durant, who uses his best mid-range shooting to score 4 points in a row, and the Suns quickly fell into a scorching battle with the Timberwolves. Booker hit a three-pointer from the outside and then made a jumper to give the Suns a five-point lead in no time. However, the Timberwolves hit two three-pointers in a row to bite the score again.
The Timberwolves have Towns and Gobert on the inside, but if they want to gain the upper hand in the battle against the Suns, the offensive changes on the outside are especially important. As the leader of the Timberwolves' outside offense, Edwards' presence is particularly important. Despite being marked by Suns players, Edwards was able to use his breakaway to create scoring opportunities, and after drawing opponents to the basket, Edwards also created space for his teammates to shoot. With the opening of offensive firepower from the outside, the Timberwolves gradually widened the gap with the Suns and widened the margin to double digits at the end of the first half.
In the rematch, the Timberwolves completely put the focus of their offense in the hands of Edwards. Edwards, who has unlimited fire rights on the offensive end, frequently fired from the outside, taking 11 shots in a single quarter and scoring 18 points by himself. The Suns obviously won't sit still, Durant stepped up again, scoring 9 points in a row, leading the Suns to narrow the gap to 4 points, and Beal also scored 7 points in a row, forcing the Timberwolves to call a timeout to adjust. Edwards played 2+1 against Nurkic to help the Timberwolves stabilize the situation, while Walker, Towns and others also blossomed inside and out, extending the lead to 20 points.
The Suns tried to chase points early in the fourth quarter, but the Timberwolves were always able to put the ball in the basket after the Suns scored. Durant hit a three-pointer from the outside, but the Suns repeatedly left open spots on the defensive end, and the Timberwolves hit three three-pointers in a row, and the Timberwolves had a lead of as many as 25 points over the Suns at most. After that, the Suns were no longer able to chase points, and the Timberwolves gradually replaced the starters, and the game went into garbage time. In the end, the Timberwolves defeated the Suns at home to claim their first win of the series.