Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
On April 29, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs ushered in the focus of the West, and the Phoenix Suns sat at home to face the Minnesota Timberwolves. At present, the Suns are 0-3 behind the Timberwolves, the Suns lost an average of 18 points per game in the first three games, and in three consecutive games, the Suns were beaten by the Timberwolves without temper, unable to attack and defend, and the performance of the Big Three was miserable. Before the game, the American media ESPN gave a winning rate prediction: the Suns won 46.0%, and the Timberwolves won 54.0%, which is not much different from the predictions in previous games.
For today's big score, I believe many people did not expect it. You know, during the regular season, the Timberwolves were also swept 0-3 by the Suns, losing by 47 points. Who would have thought that the plot of the playoffs is a completely different script, directly reversed, and the Timberwolves also took a huge 3-0 lead in the playoffs for the first time in team history, and Edwards said bluntly in an interview: Very eager to win the first series of his career with a perfect score.
In terms of injuries, Damion Lee on the Suns' side continues to be sidelined, and Grayson Allen also misses two games in a row due to injury, with the starting five being: Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Royce O'Neal, Kevin Durant, Yusuf Nurkic, and the Timberwolves' Lee Kyle is doubtful for the game, starting lineup: Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Karl Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert.
At the beginning of the first quarter, Nurkic cut to the basket, received a pass from Booker to complete a one-arm dunk, and then chased Gobert under the basket, and the Suns took the lead. Booker took advantage of Nurkic to block and dismantle, pulled out a three-point shot at the top of the arc, and Maidan received a straight pass from Towns under the basket, and made an easy layup to cause Nurkic's second foul, who was helplessly substituted. Durant single-handedly defended Madan and caused the latter to make a mistake after cutting the ball quickly, and then hit a step-back jumper in the face of Reed's block, and then broke through Reed again and hit a free throw to tie the score. Lee Kyle came off the bench, against Booker's defense, scored a basket throw, Durant accelerated to break through, and Reed completed a two-handed dunk again, and the first quarter ended, and the Suns led by one point at 26-25.
The referees still blew very tightly in the first quarter, and the two teams had 13 fouls in the first quarter, with a free throw ratio of 15-9, and the Timberwolves took the lead, while Edwards had a sluggish performance in the first quarter, shooting 0 of 5, and the Timberwolves made 1 of 9 three-pointers for the whole team. Coming back in the second quarter, when Beal was in a position with Gobert in the basket, he received his third foul and went straight to the rest. Towns hit Durant with his back and made an easy layup after a 360-degree turn, Durant made up for the defense of the nail board hat Conley, found the court, Booker quickly broke through Maidan and scored a layup diagonally, Gordon chased down a three-pointer and directly stopped the Timberwolves. After the timeout, Nurkic made a self-throw with a one-to-three basket, and was then hugged by Maidan to the face and fell to the ground in pain, and the referee replayed it for only an ordinary foul. With Booker flipping and hitting a back-to-back jumper to hit the buzzer, the halftime gave the Suns a five-point lead at 61-56.
Today's game was full of suspense, the two teams had 27 fouls in the first half, the free throw ratio was 20-17, a total of four people committed three fouls, namely Gobert, McDaniels, Beal and Okogie, and six others received two fouls each. The Timberwolves made just 4-of-18 three-pointers in the half, shooting less than 22.3 percent from the field. Durant had 20 points, five rebounds and four assists on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half, Booker had 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and one steal, Beal had five points, one rebound and three fouls, Edwards had nine points, four rebounds and three assists on 2-of-8 shooting, and Towns had 15 points, five rebounds and one assist.
In the fourth quarter, Reed saved the ball and knocked down Little and also received his fourth foul. Booker flew to the basket and hit a layup, and then there were three points in the big open position, Edwards hit a steady shot from the middle distance, Booker grabbed the board and pushed people to be blown for a foul, and also received his fourth foul, Beal was blown to block the foul, and his fifth foul in the game, the referee was really numb today. Edwards pulled out three points and then hit it, and then faced Durant with a one-handed dunk, scoring 10 points in a row, Beal made two consecutive low-level mistakes that hurt morale, and then the defense pulled people 6 fouls to leave the court, and the Suns made mistakes one after another at critical moments, and were swept out of the game by the Timberwolves 4-0, becoming the first team to be swept out of the game this season, what a shame!
In terms of statistics, on the Suns' side, Durant scored 33 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, Booker scored 49 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Beal performed in a criminal manner, scoring only 9 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists and 6 turnovers, Nurkic had 9 points and 8 rebounds, and Gordon had 6 points. On the Timberwolves' side, Edwards blasted 40 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists, Towns 28 points and 10 rebounds, Gobert 9 points and 5 rebounds, and Conley 9 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists.
It is worth mentioning that in the whole game, the Timberwolves received as many as 27 fouls, 31 free throws, 2 and five fouls, while the Suns had 25 fouls and 36 free throws, Beal left the court with 6 fouls, 1 person and five fouls, and the 63 free throws of the two teams caused heated discussions.