The Phoenix Suns blew out the Minnesota Timberwolves 125-106 on Sunday to complete a 3-0 sweep of their season series. That result also set up a first-round clash between these teams in the playoffs, and Anthony Edwards is confident the Timberwolves will come out on top, as the officials will referee the games differently than in the regular season.
"I mean, those games are over with," Edwards said. "It's a whole different game now. The refs can't call those fouls that they calling so, it's going to be a lot tougher."
(starts at 0:11 mark):
While you could make the case that perhaps some questionable calls were made earlier in the game, the Timberwolves ended up shooting 31 free throws to 18 for the Suns. Phoenix also had 24 fouls compared to 20 for Minnesota, so I am not sure Edwards has a lot to complain about.
What doomed the Timberwolves in this contest was not taking care of the ball, as the Suns scored a whopping 35 points off 24 turnovers. Of those 24, 11 came in the first quarter itself and they helped the Suns jump out to a 44-22 lead at the end of the period.
The Timberwolves desperately tried to claw out of that early hole but never got close. A big reason for that was that the Suns managed to shut down Edwards. The 22-year-old had just 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block on the night. Edwards took just seven shots all game and didn't even hit a field goal in the second half.
While the Suns did double Edwards, Bradley Beal did a fine job of guarding him by himself too. He was on fire on the other end as well and finished with 36 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. Beal was 14-21 from the field and the Suns as a whole shot 54.7% in the contest.
While regular season results aren't always indicative of how a playoff series might turn out, I would be concerned for the Timberwolves in this upcoming series. The Suns won all three meetings by double digits and set some records for the season in the process.
The first meeting saw the Suns score 133 points, which was the most that the Timberwolves allowed this season. Then in the second meeting, the Timberwolves only scored 87 points, the lowest they had managed in this campaign.
This just isn't a favorable matchup for the Timberwolves and it might take some special performances from Edwards to get them over the line. Worryingly, the two-time All-Star only averaged 14.3 points per game against the Suns this season, but he is fully capable of flipping the script.
An Old Video Of Anthony Edwards Roasting The Suns Has Gone Viral
A bit more spice to this matchup might have now been added too. A video of Edwards roasting the Suns during their embarrassing Game 7 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2022 Western Conference Semifinals has gone viral.
“I remember when we were playing Phoenix, they was talking so much sh*t. Telling us we better make the playoffs, we ain't gonna make the playoffs. We out of the playoffs but y’all, this is a disgrace bruh. Like y’all got 36 points in the third quarter, this is terrible.”
I think this will be brought to the attention of the Suns players. There was going to be a whole lot of trash talk in this series regardless, but this might take things up another notch.
More must-reads: