Phoenix’s first season with its ‘Big 3’ ended in total failure. Following the offseason acquisition of All-Star Bradley Beal, the Suns had their eyes on a run to the NBA Finals. Instead, Phoenix will enter the offseason after winning zero playoff games with the Kevin Durant-Devin Booker-Beal trio.
The series was a far cry from the regular season meetings between the Suns and the 3-seed Minnesota Timberwolves. In the regular season, Phoenix won all three games by double figures. In the four-game sweep, Phoenix lost three games by 12 or more points.
Last night, Beal fouled out after scoring just nine points. Both Booker (49 points on 13-of-21 from the field, 20-of-21 FT) and Durant (33 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) played well enough for the team to win. However, the rest of the team combined to score 34 points in a 122-116 loss — no other Sun finished with 10+ points.
For Minnesota, Anthony Edwards was dominant in the second half — scoring 31 of his 40 points over the final two quarters — and Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way.
“So impressed with Ant,” Durant said. “My favorite player to watch. Just grown so much since he came into the league. At 22, just his love for the game shines bright. That’s one of the reasons why I like him the most. He just loves basketball. He’s grateful to be in this position. He’s grateful to take advantage of every opportunity he’s gotten. Love everything about Ant. Everything. Will be watching him going forward and you know he’s going to go out there and play extremely hard every single night. But [I] was really impressed with him and he’s going to be somebody that I’m going to be following for the rest of his career.”
It was a bleak end to a season that began with such hope for the Suns. Speaking to the media following the loss, Booker expressed his thoughts on the lack of cohesion his team had throughout the year.
“I think everybody would say that the details matter and it’s something that we kind of passed by and didn’t think was a big deal but kind of came back and bit us in the ass. Hopefully everybody is feeling the same type of hurt. I have to be better. Kevin has to be better. Brad has to be better. Coach has to be better. We’re the leaders of the team. We can’t be out there unprepared.”
The Timberwolves will take on the winner of the Nuggets-Lakers series in the second round — Denver leads the series 3-1.
