On the 24th, the Timberwolves defeated the Suns again at home 105-93, so that they led 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs. McDaniels played the role of a surprise player this time, and in addition to scoring a career-high 25 points in the playoffs, he also made a huge contribution defensively, often defending the Suns' "Big Three".
The Timberwolves successfully defended their home court in the first two games of the playoffs, and the crowd shouted in unison after the game: "Sweep, sweep." "At the same time, the sun is under tremendous pressure. It is really unreasonable to have the luxury configuration of the "Big Three" and play such a level of playoff performance. But what is more worrying is that during the game, coach Vogel had a quarrel with player Bill, and rumors of a discord between the coach were rampant.
The Timberwolves-Suns series is undoubtedly a matchup of talent. In the first game, the core players of both teams were in full shape, and Edwards and Durant exploded each other on offense, and both scored more than 30 points. In Game 2, Edwards was limited by the Suns, and every time he received the ball, there were always at least two defenders in front of him. After Edwards was caught by his opponents, his scoring performance also dropped. In this game, Edwards scored only 15 points. And Durant has been given similar defensive "treatment", and his shooting percentage has plummeted. Durant scored 18 points in this game. In short, in the second game, it was not the top players of the two teams who decided the trend of the game.
In contrast, the Timberwolves have a wonder player like McDaniels, who helps the team a lot on both offensive and defensive ends. McDaniels played aggressively in this game, and he also set a new playoff scoring high for himself. But even more important than that is his active role in defending the Suns' "Big Three". In this game, the Suns' Booker, Durant, and Beal shot a total of 18 of 45. And a large part of the credit for this goes to McDaniels.
The Suns lost back-to-back games on the road, and the atmosphere in the team became a little tense. American journalists saw that Bill had an argument with Vogel. But Vogel didn't think so after the game, saying: "I prefer to define it as an argument, we're arguing about some of the situation on the field and blowing penalties, it's not an argument. "Obviously, Vogel doesn't want to escalate the situation at this point, or the team could collapse.
Suns guard Booker scored 20 points in this game, and he improved his game performance from the first game. Booker said after the game: "When we got into a difficult situation, we all wanted to work on our own and solve the problem, but it was obviously not the best way to do it. We should be more united. ”
Text/Beiqing Sports Song Xiang