Devin Booker and Kevin Durant have been here before — huge, must-win games for their teams — and both stepped up. Booker scored a career playoff high 49 points, while Durant added 33 points and nine rebounds.
Anthony Edwards hasn't been in these moments before — he had been to the playoffs a couple of times prior, but he had never won a series — but he stepped up with the biggest names in the game, scoring 31 points in the second half on his way to 40 for the game, complete with one monster dunk.
Anthony Edwards also had much more help from his teammates.
The result was a 122-116 Minnesota win, giving it a 4-0 sweep of Phoenix. The Timberwolves advance to the next round to take on the winner of the Lakers vs. Nuggets series (Denver leads 3-1 and can close it out at home on Monday).
This is the first time the Timberwolves have advanced to the playoffs in 20 years — their last playoff series win was in 2004 when Kevin Garnett was the team's star.
Or think about it this way: The last time Minnesota won a playoff series Edwards was two years old.
The only dark cloud over the Timberwolves win came in the fourth quarter when Mike Conley ran into coach Chris Finch, seriously injuring the coach's knee. Finch had to be helped off the court to the locker room and has a right patellar tendon rupture, the team confirmed.
Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been up and down this postseason, had one of his better postseason games and finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Jaden McDaniels scored 18.
However, the quality of the Timberwolves' top-ranked defense was the difference in this series. As a visual example, look at this play's quick rotations and athletic defense.
Phoenix struggled to get easy buckets all series long. While Booker and Durant stepped up on Sunday night, no other Suns player scored in double digits. That includes Bradley Beal, who fouled out scoring nine points on 4-of-13 shooting. The Suns' lack of depth outside their stars was an issue all season and it became something they couldn't overcome in the playoffs.
Phoenix now enters the postseason with serious questions about coach Frank Vogel's job security and how they can repair this roster. The Suns will spend $151 million on Booker, Beal and Durant alone, and with other contracts on the books — such as Grayson Allen's new extension — they are far above the second apron of the luxury tax. More than money out of owner Matt Ishbia's pockets, being above the second tax apron severely limits the team-building options for the Phoenix front office — it's going to be very difficult to make changes to the roster or fix the issues that saw this team swept out of the playoffs. And the Suns don't control their own first-round pick until 2031.
Minnesota's future couldn't be brighter. This team is on the rise (albeit one that will have to deal with its own financial cliff issue in the next couple of seasons). Edwards is announcing himself as a superstar this postseason and with the players around him the Timberwolves are set to win now and for years into the future. This feels like just a first step.
But one the Timberwolves and their fans deserve to celebrate.
