The Phoenix Suns held a tiny lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves after the first quarter, which foreshadowed the aggressiveness and defense that would come later.
In the early parts of the second quarter, Minnesota took the lead and never looked back.
The Suns are currently down 1-0 in the series following their 120-95 loss at Target Center, a game that swiftly spiraled out of control for Phoenix near the end of the third quarter after they had closed the gap to four points.
Game 1 was almost entirely in Minnesota’s favor. Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert led the Wolves’ efforts while dominating the glass and letting their bench outperform Phoenix’s reserves in every aspect possible.
Kevin Durant led the Suns with 30+ points, but most attempts, aside from Royce O’Neale’s 14 points off the bench, were underwhelming.
After sweeping the regular season series 3-0, with Phoenix winning all three by double digits, the Suns were, for want of a better description, punched in the mouth in Game One.
They are convinced they will answer.
“There are things we can do better; we demonstrated this throughout the regular season.” “We didn’t play well enough tonight, and we’ll make those adjustments and prepare for Game 2,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said after the loss. Phoenix has scored fewer than 100 points in two of its last five games.
The Suns trailed by as many as 27 points and allowed Minnesota to grab 52 boards, including 13 on the offensive end.
“Obviously we’re pissed off about the loss, but we’ll motivate ourselves and know we can play better, I think that’s probbaly the most frustrating thing,” Bradley Beal stated after the game.
“We know we can improve our play and our performance, but we keep playing. This is the first of four. We’re thrilled with our opportunity.
“This is going to be a good series. It’s going to be a good bump. We expected them to come out and compete, and they are doing just that. Now we have to respond.”
Devin Booker also added his two cents after the game:
“We all simply need to get used to the playoffs and the roughness. They’re being quite tough with me, and I got three early fouls and had to go to the bench. “Just trying to find a rhythm from there,” he explained.
“That’s why it is a series. It’s an emotional roller coaster for a lot of people; I believe the team that can stay calm – not get too high or too low – and simply focus on the task at hand [will win].”