Sunday could not have gone any worse for the Timberwolves.
They entered the day with a chance at the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with a little help, and they were at least guaranteed the No. 2 seed with a win. They also had a chance to show that their first two meetings this season against the Phoenix Suns were not indicative of a bad matchup, that should they face the Suns in the playoffs, the Wolves could handle them.
Then the Wolves went out and lost 125-106, a result that dropped them to the No. 3 seed thanks to Denver and Oklahoma City both winning, while their reward for the second-best regular season in team history (56-26) is to face these same Suns who have now waxed them three times this season.
Phoenix has led by double digits for the entire second half of each matchup. The Wolves began the night with a disastrous 19 turnovers in the first half and never got closer than 10 points from there.
Anthony Edwards had only 13 points on seven shot attempts to go with five turnovers, while Karl-Anthony Towns had only 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting in his second game back from left meniscus surgery. Towns’ slow re-acclimation and how helpless the Wolves have looked against Phoenix have put doubt in the Wolves’ chances to move past the first round of a playoff series for the first time since 2004. Even if the team was professing outward confidence after the game.
“It’s honestly the belief in ourselves that we had all year,” said guard Mike Conley, who scored 17 points. “It has to stick out. We’re a team that we haven’t looked across the court and thought we’re not better than another team. I think in every game, we feel like we can beat that opponent, and this is no different.”
The Wolves looked nowhere close to competing with the Suns on Sunday after faltering to a 44-22 deficit in the first quarter thanks to 11 turnovers. Phoenix’s starting lineup appears to present matchup problems for the Wolves, who were using Towns to guard Grayson Allen, who had 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting.
