Suns prove to be frauds with embarrassing Game 3 performance vs. Timberwolves

The Phoenix Suns entered Friday’s Game 3 of their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves down 2-0 starting at the prospect of elimination. This was essentially a must-win game without officially being one since no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. Phoenix’s offense had been stuck in neutral through two games, but there was reason to believe the superstar trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal could turn things around at home. After all, the Suns looked this way in last year’s conference semifinals against the Nuggets through two games before Durant and Booker went off to level the series. Surely, the Suns would raise their effort level in this contest in front of their home fans.

However, things went awry from the first possession.

There’s no one near Karl-Anthony Towns, who shot 41.6% from three-point land over the regular season. The image doesn’t show it but no one on Phoenix even attempted to close out on him. The result was an easy triple for Minnesota to start the evening. Things didn’t get much better for Phoenix.

That’s Mike Conley, who shot 44.2% from behind the arc in the regular season on just over five attempts per game. Durant offers a lazy excuse of a challenge and the result is yet another triple for the Timberwolves.

It’s important to offer some context on the Suns, who seemingly built an offensive juggernaut when they got Bradley Beal to force his way to the desert in the offseason. The Durant-Booker-Beal trio spearheaded one of the best scoring teams in the league, as the Suns ranked 10th in points per game and offensive rating. They could’ve been higher had Beal and Booker been more healthy but the offense was clicking. And head coach Frank Vogel had done a decent job with Phoenix’s defense given the scoring prowess. The Suns ranked 13th in points allowed per game and defensive rating. In the playoffs, the brilliance of scorers like Durant and Booker would shine brighter than any defensive issues. Or at least, that was the thought.

Things truly unraveled for Phoenix in the third quarter, when the Timberwolves started connecting on seemingly every triple to gain a 36-20 edge in the period. While Minnesota was able to hit some contested perimeter shots, here’s a sampling of others where the Timberwolves had no trouble lining up the perfect attempt.

These aren’t players who are designed to be left open from deep, and this is a must-win game for the Suns at home. Guys like Nickeil Alexander-Walker (39.1 3pt%) and Naz Reid (41.4 3pt%) are being given all day to hoist. The last image shows Beal in a half-hearted attempt to reach Alexander-Walker, who had already hit three triples in the quarter prior to knocking this one down. Despite shooting 10-19 from the floor en route to 28 points, Beal finished the game as a -19. Durant was a -20, while Booker was relatively saved at -8. Booker’s overall downturn in this series offensively might ultimately be the reason the Suns fell into a 2-0 hole in the first place but the whole team was responsible for Friday’s debacle.

It wasn’t just the three-point shots. The Timberwolves appeared to play like the team down 2-0 fighting to stave off elimination, seemingly grabbing every 50-50 ball and attacking every possession as if their playoff lives depended on it. Perhaps no play is more encapsulating of Phoenix’s lethargy than a simple transition opportunity where Reid beats everyone down the floor without really sprinting.

There are three Phoenix players in line with or ahead of Reid in this frame. Booker understandably tries to play Conley, who has the ball. Here’s how this sequence ends.

Beal is truly in no man’s land, while Eric Gordon has to choose between Reid and Alexander-Walker in the corner. Gobert beats Durant down the floor (technically Reid is Durant’s cover here) but there was clearly no communication from Phoenix. Even if Conley didn’t go to Reid, he has Anthony Edwards open in a potential 1-on-1 situation for the star forward.

This lack of communication was evident throughout the game. Here’s a drive from Edwards where Beal is once again in no man’s land. Gordon does provide some help defense, but who’s covering Gobert on the offensive glass? Edwards would miss the layup but McDaniels gets an easy putback thanks to Phoenix being out of position.

The Timberwolves finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds as part of a 50-28 rebounding advantage over the Suns. If you want to look at a stat where effort was lacking, this is it. Phoenix only made two fewer triples than Minnesota and actually made one more free throw. It was the effort department that burned the Suns, something which shouldn’t even be a question in a home Game 3 when you are down 2-0.

What makes this result even more damning is Phoenix’s domination of Minnesota in the regular season. The Suns beat the Timberwolves twice in a span of 10 days to close out the regular season, including a 125-106 victory on the last day to give Phoenix an automatic playoff berth and this matchup. How can a team that you’ve put to bed with relative ease twice in a short time frame come back with this level of fury? It helps when they play harder.

Phoenix doesn’t have much room to maneuver in the offseason. The Suns are going to be in the luxury tax with Durant, Beal, Booker, Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic under contract. It’s going to be hard to move the big man, even though the Suns will surely try. They do have a first-round pick which they can trade on draft night, or they can add a player and hope he can be a low-cost rotation guy. But someone has to take responsibility for this debacle of a season first.

According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Suns were +650 to win the title entering the season. That was fourth in the league and only behind the defending champions Nuggets in the West. Optimists will point to Beal and Booker being in and out of the lineup but the former entered this year having played 90 games combined over the last two seasons. Beal hasn’t played more than 60 games since the 2018-19 season, so banking on him to be healthy is unrealistic. And on the flip side, Durant played more than 70 games for the first time since 2018-19 so that injury luck balances out. Vogel could get the axe but he’s not responsible for effort. The entire operation is going to have to be reviewed because new owner Mat Ishbia did not sign up for this when he pushed for the Durant trade.

Ultimately, it’s on the veteran forward to make this work. Durant knows the importance of defense and effort from his time with the Warriors, where he won two championships. Golden State has returned to the Finals and won since his departure, while Durant has not even sniffed the conference finals. He’ll have to take responsibility, even if it was Booker’s own performance that cost the Suns in this particular series.