In addition to leading the Minnesota Timberwolves to yet another dominant defensive effort, Jaden McDaniels scored a career-high 25 points on Tuesday night to help them grab a 2-0 lead in their first-round series against the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns stifled Anthony Edwards, limiting him to 15 points on 3-for-12 shooting after allowing him 33 in the first game. Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley both scored 18 points for the Wolves.

On Friday night, the teams travel to Phoenix for Game 3. Only once before in franchise history has Minnesota led a series 2-0: against Denver in the 2004 playoffs’ opening round, which resulted in a 4-1 series win.

Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished with 12 points, said, “Everyone down the list has shown they’ll be willing to do whatever it takes to sacrifice whatever it is for betterment of the team.”

Devin Booker scored twenty points, Kevin Durant added eighteen, and Eric Gordon, the sixth man, scored fifteen. The Suns, once again, were unable to get their explosive offense clicking.

“We can’t be disorganized offensively when they’re scoring on us and we’re not getting the right stops,” Suns head coach Frank Vogel stated. “We owned way too many items of that kind.”

Booker, Durant, and Bradley Beal shot a combined 18 for 45, with McDaniels being the main culprit for the slump.

“It is visible to us. I’m aware of it. I am able to see them. It’s difficult, Gobert said. “Going up against the kind of defense we’re playing right now is not fun for anyone.”

Towns got going after early foul trouble, but the Suns wore down after taking an early 51-50 lead into halftime after opening up an eight-point lead in the second quarter.

Guard Grayson Allen of Phoenix was out in the third quarter due to an aggravating ankle strain. The audience erupted as Minnesota’s advantage continued into the fourth quarter. 

A bounce pass from Conley to Gobert off a pick-and-roll set up an easy slam and an 84-76 advantage that the Wolves subsequently stretched to 19 points. Then, the 17-year-old seasoned point guard lit up the arena with a corner 3-pointer.

In the closing minutes, the chant “Wolves in 4!” appeared.

“The structure has been wonderful. Coach Chris Finch remarked, “The fans have been unbelievable.” “We were locked in from the beginning, and our guys have risen to their energy.”

The Suns never shied away from packing the paint with several defenders, but the Wolves utilized a lot of Edwards on the offensive end to win Game 1 by a score of 25 points on Saturday.

The Timberwolves, who shot 9 for 32 from three-point range, struggled to force them to pay. They lost a little of the bench output that had helped them win the opener. This time, the referees were more strict, which resulted in Towns’ costly three-foul opening quarter, which kept him out until halftime.

However, McDaniels, Gobert, and all other astute players relentlessly assaulted the hoop, ensuring that the Wolves could take use of their superior size inside.

They also passed their maturity test. After a wayward elbow, Booker rammed his forearms into McDaniels, forcing McDaniels into an idiotic shove that earned him a technical foul. 

However, the ferocious 23-year-old didn’t let that define his night. He punched a wall in rage at the final regular season game, missing the 2023 first-round series against Denver due to a fractured hand.

According to McDaniels, “everyone on the team does a good job helping me manage emotions and stuff like that.” “The game is physical. Nothing significant is going on between us. Things do happen occasionally.

At the insistence of his coaches, McDaniels even broke through the glass, using his explosive 6-foot-9 body to collect eight rebounds. 

Finch joked that he had been bugging McDaniels to do so for the previous “250 games,” and that in order to get him in character, the staff had him go through football-style drills at practice each week.

Jusuf Nurkic (10 points, 14 rebounds) partially offset Gobert’s brilliant defense that changed shots. The Suns led 41–39 after the Timberwolves broke a franchise playoff record with a plus–24 rebounding advantage, but anything more seemed impossible.

Don’t underestimate us, Booker remarked. “There’s a reason this is a series.”