Minnesota Timberwolves Assistant Makes Bold Claim Ahead of 7-Game Battle vs Phoenix Suns

Minnesota’s assistant coach Micah Nori made an appearance at a local radio talk show to discuss the team’s preparation for their first-round clash against the Suns. While he admitted that the Wolves did lose to the Suns, he insisted that their regular-season record doesn’t amount to anything significant in the postseason.

Per Donnie Druin of Inside the Suns:

“Point being, Phoenix was going to be the matchup so we didn’t want to show an awful lot,” Nori told KFAN-FM 100.3’s Power Trip Morning Show (h/t All Timberwolves). “There’s some things we can do that they haven’t seen that hopefully will help us. Game 1 will be very, very important to get that one at home and be off and running in the series.”

He mentioned that it’s expected that the team’s trio of star scorers will always be able to score no matter what kind of defensive scheme they come up with, so he let the fans in on what they’ll be doing to stop the Phoenix Suns:

“They’re going to score, they’re going to do what they do. So that means we have to pay more attention to those guys such as the Grayson Allens, who led the NBA in three-point shooting, and Bradley Beal, who’s averaged 25 points against us in the two games that he’s played.”

It’s a bold strategy, but he’s not wrong with his assessment. Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen are the two most potent sharpshooters in the roster that they need to take note of. Allen is especially deadly from deep, sinking 46.1% of his attempts from long range.

Defense can only go so far, and the Minnesota Timberwolves also need their role players to step up. Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid are crucial to the team’s success, and their efficiency in scoring and defense can spell the difference between a sweep and a Game 7 heartbreaker.

This first-round clash is promising to be a tasty affair, and Wolves fans hope that they’ll finally one-up their recent playoff outings this time.