Suns are favorites over the Wolves. Can the Wolves Win?

[Wolvesfan21]

Suns are favored to beat the Wolves in this series, despite the Wolves having a better record and homecourt. It makes sense to me watching the games. The Wolves have had almost no answers on defense against the Suns this year. 3 games is a decent sample size already. They are going to really have to step up with a great game plan and energy to stop this super talented offense. The Suns are so good.

Even in the offseason I thought the Suns could overpower the Wolves on paper. They just have so many guys who can score 30 or even 50 in a night. My thought was that in the end, super talented offense will beat super talented defense. Now we'll see when it really matters. The masses are taking the Suns and I say the Wolves have zero chance to win (J/K, we have a tiny chance, lol).

[Q-is-here]

I've watched two of the three Suns games this year - the first one where we were on the road at their place on the second night of a back to back and then the game yesterday. I walked away from the first one feeling pretty hopeless about our chances for playoff success with this group, but then I grew encouraged as the season wore on.

Welp, now I'm back to feeling pretty hopeless. They just flat out looked like the better team in almost every aspect of the game: Moving, shooting, being physical, etc. I was probably most impressed by their defense. Sometimes you feel like these teams with a bunch of shooters and scorers are going to be pretty weak on defense, yet Phoenix absolutely clamped down and made everything difficult.

Yes, the Wolves can win the series, but they certainly shouldn't be favored at this point. I'd definitely put my money on Phoenix.

[Wolvesfan21]

I've watched two of the three Suns games this year - the first one where we were on the road at their place on the second night of a back to back and then the game yesterday. I walked away from the first one feeling pretty hopeless about our chances for playoff success with this group, but then I grew encouraged as the season wore on.

Welp, now I'm back to feeling pretty hopeless. They just flat out looked like the better team in almost every aspect of the game: Moving, shooting, being physical, etc. I was probably most impressed by their defense. Sometimes you feel like these teams with a bunch of shooters and scorers are going to be pretty weak on defense, yet Phoenix absolutely clamped down and made everything difficult.

Yes, the Wolves can win the series, but they certainly shouldn't be favored at this point. I'd definitely put my money on Phoenix.

Ant has not been good either like his normal self. I think he said his favorite player was KD growing up. I wonder if he's just a tiny bit star struck playing against him. Even just a little bit. I could imagine playing against Tiger in golf when I was 22 and I might be a little bit the same way (I was pretty good at golf (better then scratch) and maybe I wasn't a huge fan I respected his talent obviously). I think I would feel like I have nothing to lose though and just rip it, full send mode and see what happens. In my case I would still lose 99 out of 100 rounds (I've shot 66, 67, etc. Just maybe he shoots a 68 that day, haha). But Ant has a better chance for sure. Go full send mode Ant. Beat that fucker down.

[Q-is-here]

I've watched two of the three Suns games this year - the first one where we were on the road at their place on the second night of a back to back and then the game yesterday. I walked away from the first one feeling pretty hopeless about our chances for playoff success with this group, but then I grew encouraged as the season wore on.

Welp, now I'm back to feeling pretty hopeless. They just flat out looked like the better team in almost every aspect of the game: Moving, shooting, being physical, etc. I was probably most impressed by their defense. Sometimes you feel like these teams with a bunch of shooters and scorers are going to be pretty weak on defense, yet Phoenix absolutely clamped down and made everything difficult.

Yes, the Wolves can win the series, but they certainly shouldn't be favored at this point. I'd definitely put my money on Phoenix.

Ant has not been good either like his normal self. I think he said his favorite player was KD growing up. I wonder if he's just a tiny bit star struck playing against him. Even just a little bit. I could imagine playing against Tiger in golf when I was 22 and I might be a little bit the same way (I was pretty good at golf (better then scratch) and maybe I wasn't a huge fan I respected his talent obviously). I think I would feel like I have nothing to lose though and just rip it, full send mode and see what happens. In my case I would still lose 99 out of 100 rounds (I've shot 66, 67, etc. Just maybe he shoots a 68 that day, haha). But Ant has a better chance for sure. Go full send mode Ant. Beat that fucker down.

The problem is that when Ant gets motivated and in that "I'm going to take over" mode, he often plays right into a smart defense's hands by not moving the ball or waiting to pass it a beat late and turning it over. In other words, the defense uses it against him.

Defensively it's a different story, where single-minded focus and effort manifests itself in more positive outcomes for Ant. We've seen how he can absolutely shut a guy down. But offensively, he needs a little Yoda to him because putting his head down and trying to force things just doesn't work out for him very often. He doesn't seem to trust yet that getting rid of the ball quickly and then moving without the ball will lead to some great looks as the ball finds him again.

[FNG]

Can the Wolves win? Certainly. Vegas has the Suns at -115 in the series, which really amounts to dead even, so the wise guys see this as close to a toss up. Plus, we won 7 more games than the Suns during the regular season, and we are favored by 2 1/2 points to go up 1-0 in the series Saturday.

All that said, I am not at all optimistic. You can't ignore how easily the Suns have handled us this year. And they are so difficult to defend with three all-star quality starters plus Punchable Face who led the league in 3-point shooting this season at 46.1%. Plus Gobert seems to struggle against Nurkic. And then as Q mentioned, there's their defense. I've never thought of Beal and Booker as being very good on defense, but the Suns have really bottled us up the last 2 games. So there are a lot of reasons to pick the Suns in this series. We need to exorcize the Suns demons in Game 1 and play like we have all season.

Personally, I need to decide whether I'm going to cough up to see one of the (potentially) 3 games in Phoenix. It's going to be a long drive back to Tucson if we lay an egg like we did earlier this month at the Footprint Center, and tickets are not going to be cheap. I think it will depend on how we stand after 3 or 4 games...if it's 2-2 and we're playing them tough, I may set up my Go Fund Me account and score a ticket.

[Coolbreeze44]

One thing the Wolves have to do is attack Allen when we're on offense. I watched all of his playoff games when he was with the Bucks and he couldn't stay on the floor due to his defensive shortcomings. The Suns do a good job of covering for him with their shell game but over a 7 game series we should be able to find a way to exploit his matchup. I can't remember who he predominantly covered yesterday.

Another thing we should try is Rudy or NAZ in the high post and KAT down on the block. Get the ball inside to KAT and let him go to work against whoever the Suns try to match him with. If KAT is going to be on the outside, it should be to shoot 3's, not bully his way to the basket. He invariably ends up committing fouls or turns the ball over.

Lastly, since Ant hurt his finger on his poster dunk, he hasn't gone to the basket with as much vigor. We need him to get back to slashing, drawing fouls, and putting pressure on the defense.

[Q-is-here]

One thing the Wolves have to do is attack Allen when we're on offense. I watched all of his playoff games when he was with the Bucks and he couldn't stay on the floor due to his defensive shortcomings. The Suns do a good job of covering for him with their shell game but over a 7 game series we should be able to find a way to exploit his matchup. I can't remember who he predominantly covered yesterday.

Another thing we should try is Rudy or NAZ in the high post and KAT down on the block. Get the ball inside to KAT and let him go to work against whoever the Suns try to match him with. If KAT is going to be on the outside, it should be to shoot 3's, not bully his way to the basket. He invariably ends up committing fouls or turns the ball over.

Lastly, since Ant hurt his finger on his poster dunk, he hasn't gone to the basket with as much vigor. We need him to get back to slashing, drawing fouls, and putting pressure on the defense.

Don't disagree with KAT driving less and shooting more if outside the paint, but the problem with him working on the interior posting up is that it seems like the refs allow smaller players to physically assault KAT while he's trying to get position and then when he pushes back or hooks or chicken wings a guy, he's the one called for the foul.

[AbeVigodaLive]

One thing the Wolves have to do is attack Allen when we're on offense. I watched all of his playoff games when he was with the Bucks and he couldn't stay on the floor due to his defensive shortcomings. The Suns do a good job of covering for him with their shell game but over a 7 game series we should be able to find a way to exploit his matchup. I can't remember who he predominantly covered yesterday.

I don't remember either. I have to think it was McDaniels? And sorry... he simply has not shown he can be any sort of real difference maker even close to consistently on offense.

Phoenix would be more than willing to let McDaniels try to beat them.

[Wolvesfan21]

I've watched two of the three Suns games this year - the first one where we were on the road at their place on the second night of a back to back and then the game yesterday. I walked away from the first one feeling pretty hopeless about our chances for playoff success with this group, but then I grew encouraged as the season wore on.

Welp, now I'm back to feeling pretty hopeless. They just flat out looked like the better team in almost every aspect of the game: Moving, shooting, being physical, etc. I was probably most impressed by their defense. Sometimes you feel like these teams with a bunch of shooters and scorers are going to be pretty weak on defense, yet Phoenix absolutely clamped down and made everything difficult.

Yes, the Wolves can win the series, but they certainly shouldn't be favored at this point. I'd definitely put my money on Phoenix.

Ant has not been good either like his normal self. I think he said his favorite player was KD growing up. I wonder if he's just a tiny bit star struck playing against him. Even just a little bit. I could imagine playing against Tiger in golf when I was 22 and I might be a little bit the same way (I was pretty good at golf (better then scratch) and maybe I wasn't a huge fan I respected his talent obviously). I think I would feel like I have nothing to lose though and just rip it, full send mode and see what happens. In my case I would still lose 99 out of 100 rounds (I've shot 66, 67, etc. Just maybe he shoots a 68 that day, haha). But Ant has a better chance for sure. Go full send mode Ant. Beat that fucker down.

The problem is that when Ant gets motivated and in that "I'm going to take over" mode, he often plays right into a smart defense's hands by not moving the ball or waiting to pass it a beat late and turning it over. In other words, the defense uses it against him.

Defensively it's a different story, where single-minded focus and effort manifests itself in more positive outcomes for Ant. We've seen how he can absolutely shut a guy down. But offensively, he needs a little Yoda to him because putting his head down and trying to force things just doesn't work out for him very often. He doesn't seem to trust yet that getting rid of the ball quickly and then moving without the ball will lead to some great looks as the ball finds him again.

I agree 100%. I've been saying the same thing. Teams will continue to double and load up the paint. He has made very good progress this season, but I think we need even a little more assists still to really unlock the offense. I can see them (coaches and Ant) watching all the tape and game planning for whoever doubles so they have answers (hopefully).

[Leado01]

When they play in the shell we just need to hit 38% of our threes.

KAT, NAZ, Connely, NAW, and the MAC'S have to get open at the 3 for passes from the FT line.

Anderson has the skill and length to deliver those passes. We just need to execute.