Dec 27, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) react after a made basket against the Houston Rockets during the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
PHOENIX — The Minnesota Timberwolves had a feeling they’d see the Phoenix Suns again.
After three regular season matchups – all resulting in losses against the Suns – Minnesota assistant coach Micah Nori told a local radio station the team stayed vanilla against Phoenix last weekend knowing it was a strong possibility the two sides would see each other again.
“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.”
An interesting choice for sure, though Minnesota didn’t exactly dictate fate. The Suns still needed a loss from the New Orleans Pelicans (who played at the same time) to avoid the play-in tournament.
“We know that [Devin] Booker and [Kevin] Durant are going to do what they do,” said Nori.
“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.
