The Suns can’t even dribble around the Wolves!

Phoenix has struggled to score and attack the paint in their 2024 playoff series against Minnesota. This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores the Wolves defensive success behind the incredible ball pressure of Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Anthony Edwards along with Rudy Gobert’s newfound versatility in the playoffs.

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Music by Nemesis

#ThinkingBasketball

look at this sequence from game two
between the Suns and Timberwolves
Anthony Edwards picks up Bradley Beal in
the back court completely hounds him to
the point where he could barely dribble
the ball across the timeline and it
finally ends with a Ticky Tac foul but a
second later it was nille Alexander
Walker all over Booker in the back court
he can’t even throw a pass and that is a
phoenix turnover 2 minutes later it’s
Kevin Durant dribbling on the outside
Nas Reed that away and all that pressure
starts to get into your head because
Bradley Beal can’t even get by Rudy goar
on a switch they kick it out to Booker
Alexander Walker in his shorts and then
he just throws it away and the
combination of the pressure and the late
switching from Alexander Walker throws
off the timing between Beal and Booker
and it’s yet another turnover a second
later Alexander Walker is back at it
again stuck on Booker’s hip so when he
tries to get the ball he just sticks his
paw in there knocks it off a Suns player
and this is epic basically Phoenix
needed screens in the back court to
Spring players like Beal and Booker just
so they can get the ball and get away
from these guards because the
Timberwolves ball pressure in this
series has been just that
good The Phoenix offensive rating after
two games in this series is 100 100 the
last time League average efficiency was
that low was before the three-point line
the Wolves had the best defense in the
League this year allowing 109 points per
100 possessions that was six points
better than average and they’ve put
Phoenix in a torture chamber in this
series we often talk about ballhawks on
defense but Minnesota is more like a
pack of wild wolves swarming a helpless
elk this isn’t nightmare matchup for
Phoenix in the sense that their guards
aren’t super quick and don’t put a ton
of pressure on the basket with dribble
penetration and meanwhile Minnesota is
just stalked with a ton of crazy
athletic longwing Defenders who can
blanket perimeter players Alexander
Walker is all out denying Beal’s catch
here stays with all these cuts and then
it’s just cookies on the handoff takes
it the other way for a steal even Rudy
goar got into the action switching onto
Durant late in game one and when KD
dangles a crossover in front of him Rudy
pokes it away then the alpha male sneaks
up and just rips it from KD and that is
a Showtime dunk Jaden McDaniels might be
the best of them picking up Booker 70 ft
away as the sun set up this pin down for
Kevin Durant in the corner and as goar
sneaks out to take away Durant Yousef
nerkish slips wide open to the basket
but Booker misses the pass and part of
this is because McDaniels forces him to
turn his back at half court with all
that ball pressure and by the time he
turns around and gets his head up it’s
too late the play goes nowhere and now
Phoenix has to reset the whole thing
with 10 on the clock they fake setting a
screen for Durant and basically let him
attack goar in space Rudy does a pretty
good job of staying with him but
sometimes better offense just wins
what’s really crazy is that Durant has
hit some incredible shots just to help
the sun’s offensive rating get up to 100
because the rest of the time Minnesota
was just making life miserable for the
Suns offense where it was hard for them
to get the ball into the paint here goar
is lurking behind he switches onto Beal
in the corner now they have a ton of
size on him Bradley passes out of the
Trap but ant Smothers Booker at the rim
and this whole is just a disaster for
Phoenix this time Edwards picks up the
ball on the inbounds Beal’s already
hopping around waiting for a screen to
help him get in the front court and by
the time they get there and start
setting it up ant can just switch to
Durant and it’s basically 15 seconds
before any reasonable offensive action
starts taking place but look at Jaden
McDaniels stay connected to Beal on that
cut take away the pass and Royce O’Neal
is the last person you want dribbling
here he picks it up and now there’s 5
Seconds to go and the ball has not gone
inside the three-point line Nas raps it
to Beal and just for good measure and
erases him at the basket
man I really love this one from game one
where Phoenix comes up with a steel and
then all of a sudden in transition four
Timberwolves are surrounding Devin
Booker in the paint and it’s rare to see
one on fours after after a turnover like
this but watch them get back on the pass
McDaniels and Alexander Walker are deep
in the corners they take off like it’s
the 100 meter finals Nas Reed stays in
front of Durant but then hustles back
into the paint and so Booker is totally
swarmed then they turn and recover on
all these passes so there’s never an
advantage created and there’s no
crossmatch to attack because Alexander
Walker is fighting to deny Durant with
all this space in the paint and they
can’t even throw an entry pass to him so
all this pressure leads to a ton of
turnovers in different ways jmac just
refuses to be screened here and then
when they reset they’re left with
Grayson Allen trying to get into the
paint he can’t really crack the seal and
it’s an offensive foul into Mike Conley
another thing you’ll see is moving
screens so McDaniels picks up the ball
in the backourt they go to set that pick
to free Booker but he has to lean into
it because JM is so good getting around
picks and it’s an offensive
foul we talked about McDaniel’s
impressive versatility earlier in the
season and it’s been on display in this
series he can guard Wings in isolation
out in space like this staying on
Booker’s Euro Step here and completely
smothering him at the rim and yet he’s
big enough to switch onto Durant and
play him in his sweet spots and not give
up anything and contest really well
we’ve seen how good he is getting around
screens here the wide Yousef nurkic
moves a little at the end to pick him
off but then Jaden recovers back into
the play bothers Booker from behind and
just ends up stamping it on the glass
and this was a spectacular recovery
because Phoenix has been trying to send
the screener down into the lane to seal
off goar with a Gort toot screen so goar
can’t get to Booker’s right hand but
McDaniel is so good he comes over the
top and catches him he’s one of these
players with subtle length that adds up
Phoenix actually gets the Wolves defense
in rotation here Alexander Walker
scrambling to the perimeter and
McDaniels is over in the corner glued to
Devin Booker because of his shooting and
then at the last second comes off to
rotate to Beal and this looks wide open
but McDaniels nearly blocks it and hits
Beal’s fingers as he’s releasing the
ball and that’s certainly enough to
alter the shot and then of course he
just has that traditional Presence at
the basket Carl Anthony towns has to
pick up Beal in transition Bradley can
actually get by him but McDaniels is
there with the vertical
defense having all these great Wing
Defenders around Rudy goar certainly
amplifies that Rim protection in a way
we did not see when he was in Utah this
is a perfect example with Anthony
Edwards refusing to be screened and so
when Bradley Beal comes off the high
pick goar is at the top of the key in a
drop and instead of walking into a
pullup three here Edwards is just
stalking him on the other side of the
screen Beal actually tries to drive but
ant stays connected to his hip then goar
deters any shot at the rim and when they
recover McDaniels is denying Booker’s
back door Durant actually gets past Carl
Anthony towns and here goar is waiting
at the foul line so he makes an
incredible save to shut off Durant
and another helpful factor in this
series is that when Rudy leaves Yousef
nurkic like this to help out on a
penetrator he doesn’t really have to
worry about nket shooting from three
he’s not even spotted up outside the
line here so someone like McDaniels can
overplay Durant in the corner and then
goar is waiting to shut off any idea of
a
layup here’s another big difference from
the Jaz days Beal gets by towns Rudy is
there to shut him off he actually
switches on to Beal and being stuck in
the corner used to be an issue when he
was on the Jazz but for Minnesota
Edwards tries to jam up Durant Here
Comes JM with that reach towns is
sliding over and it’s nearly another
turnover so you’ll see these beautiful
plays in this series where Edwards is
out applying ball pressure goar is out
beyond the three-point line he tells
Edwards to stay with Beal here because
he doesn’t have to worry about nurkic
Way Beyond the line and then Edwards
peels off and switches just to steal the
pass at the last second and that sets up
some more defense to offense for the
Timberwolves and that Veer back switch
by ant is just basketball
Art Phoenix is not a team with quick
penetrators that put a lot of pressure
on the rim they were 28th in points
scored at the basket this season and all
this lets go bear play different
coverages coming out High to meet Booker
here then using his size to bother the p
to the roll man and then Edwards uses
the trampoline in the floor to challenge
a deep three Rudy’s been able to switch
a bunch in the first few games out onto
the sun’s perimeter stars and then stay
with them pretty well without paying too
much of a price this time he picks up
Book on a cut and now he’s the one
making it difficult to dribble and then
he tries to absolutely smother him and
probably should have had some help at
the basket at the end of the clock there
but in the very first play of this
series goar jumped out onto Durant and
in a pure one-onone stood his ground and
nearly blocked a wild shot there was
actually one point in game one where he
just matched up with KD for a few
possessions and well that’s probably not
their long-term strategy he’s done a
good job on an island in this series
even though Durant has hit a few tough
shots against him overall Phoenix is
shooting just 53% at The Rim in the
playoffs in large part due to goar’s
towering presence and we’ve even seen
total psych outs where someone on the
Suns catches it right near the cup and
then completely panics when they hear
Rudy’s big
footsteps the suns are averaging 17
turnovers a game in this series Beal and
Booker combined for 10 in game two after
Durant had five in game one and that’s
led to easy offense in the Timberwolves
wins but yeah the most startling thing
is just how hard it is for the Suns to
safely move around and dribble near this
swarming pack of wolves and Chris
Finch’s top ranked defense looks like
it’s going to be even harder to score on
in the playoffs than it was in the
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watching this one hope you’re enjoying
the playoffs and that you are having a
great day