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04/29 02:21 CDT Timberwolves outlast Suns to finish sweep. Minnesota coach
Chris Finch leaves with knee injury
Timberwolves outlast Suns to finish sweep. Minnesota coach Chris Finch leaves
with knee injury
By DAVID BRANDT
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX (AP) --- Minnesota star Anthony Edwards noticed early in the third
quarter that the Phoenix Suns switched up their defense, playing him one-on-one
most of the time instead of using the double teams from the first half.
The budding superstar took that as a challenge.
"It was like --- you've got to beat us," Edwards said. "And I showed them."
Edwards scored 31 of his 40 points in the second half, Karl-Anthony Towns added
28 and the Timberwolves pulled away late to beat the Suns 122-116 on Sunday
night and sweep the first-round playoff series.
The franchise's first playoff series win in 20 years came after coach Chris
Finch left the game late in the fourth after an inadvertent collision with
Wolves guard Mike Conley. The team said he had a ruptured patellar tendon in
his right knee.
Edwards finished 13 of 23 from the field, including 7 of 13 from 3-point range.
The 22-year-old threw down a powerful, one-handed jam to give Minnesota a
115-111 lead with 2:14 left.
"We've watched him grow, evolve as a leader, as a player, as a man," Wolves
center Rudy Gobert said. "It's been fun."
Phoenix would never recover.
The Wolves finished off the Suns despite Devin Booker's 49 points on 13 of 21
shooting. He also made 20 of 21 free throws. Kevin Durant added 33, but the
rest of the team struggled.
Assistant coach Micah Nori took over for Finch for the final 1:41 and the
Wolves closed with relative ease.
"Everybody has their role, everybody has each other's back," Nori said. "I know
it sounds corny, but it's just next man up, even with the coaching staff."
Minnesota's Jaden McDaniels scored 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and the Wolves
had a 44-33 rebounding advantage.
It was a tight fourth quarter and the Suns tied it at 107 on Royce O'Neale's
3-pointer with 4:30 remaining. Edwards and Jaden McDaniels hit back-to-back
corner 3s to put the Wolves up 113-109 with 3:20 left.
The Wolves now wait to see if they will face the Denver Nuggets or Los Angeles
Lakers in the second round.
"Their whole team created a lot of problems for us," Suns coach Frank Vogel
said. "The role players, the stars. Anthony Edwards is a special, special
talent. And their bigs played really well."
Edwards hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third and McDaniels followed
with a powerful dunk, helping Minnesota turn a six-point deficit into a 68-66
lead. It was part of a big third for Edwards, who hit four 3-pointers and had
15 points.
Booker responded, scoring 18 points during the quarter and the Suns took a
92-90 lead into the fourth. It was a tough game for three-time All-Star Bradley
Beal, who scored just nine points on 4-of-13 shooting before fouling out.
"They were executing late and we didn't," Booker said.
The Suns threw various looks at the Wolves in the first half, using five
perimeter players at various times to try to pull big men Gobert and Towns away
from the basket.
Booker hit a fallaway jumper at the buzzer to give the Suns a 61-56 halftime
lead. Durant led Phoenix with 20 points before the break, while Booker had 17.
Towns had 15 for the Wolves.
Suns guard Grayson Allen missed his second straight game because of a sprained
ankle suffered in Game 1 that he aggravated in Game 2. He averaged 13.5 points
per game and led the NBA in 3-point percentage during the regular season.
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