Bradley Beal has made no secret of the Phoenix Suns’ defensive strategy against Anthony Edwards. Twice after games this season, Beal has offered a succinct summation of the approach.
“Foul his ass,” Beal said after their most recent win over Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves. “Foul him.”
He had a grin as he said it, but there were likely some grains of truth tucked in there somewhere.
In three games, all decisive victories for the Suns, Phoenix threw the kitchen sink at Edwards. They have sent double- and triple-teams at him to get the ball out of his hands. And when Edwards doesn’t move it, he is met with physicality on his way to the rim. It is not quite the Jordan Rules that the Detroit Pistons deployed back in the day, but squint and you can see the outlines of the philosophy.
The approach has two prongs. First and foremost, the Suns want to limit Edwards’ touches and force other players on the Timberwolves to beat them. Secondly, they want to frustrate Edwards, get in his head and torment the 22-year-old as he tries to find a rhythm in the game.
It has been a season of ascendance for Edwards. He averaged 25.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game in the regular season to lead the Wolves (56-26) to the second-best record in franchise history. He established himself as an All-NBA level player, showed a greater aptitude for playmaking and made sure the team did not fall off when Karl-Anthony Towns missed 18 games because of a knee injury.
If there’s a nitpick in his game, it has been that Edwards has sometimes let an official’s call, or the lack of one, get to him. He received 15 technical fouls this season, the vast majority of them for arguing with officials for calls. One more would have resulted in a one-game suspension. He is one of the most charismatic, charming young stars in the game. He is edging closer to Luka Dončić and Draymond Green among the league’s most vociferous complainers. Even when a referee does blow his whistle, he has been known to bark at him or her or another official, believing the call should have been made sooner.
“The physicality doesn’t bother me; I’m a physical player. But the fouling definitely bothers me because (if) somebody else gets fouled, they’re going to call it,” Edwards said.
If the Timberwolves are going to advance to the second round of the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history and the first since 2004, they will need Edwards to walk the line of playing with the fire that makes him one of the most dynamic offensive talents in the league while keeping his composure against a team that is sure to get under his skin.
The Suns and their savvy veterans like Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant can pick up on things like that. They can poke, prod and bump to throw him off of his game. They are competitive and play with an edge, and Edwards should expect them to continue to play him that way because it has worked to this point.
In those three games, Edwards has averaged 14.3 points per game, his second-lowest average against any team that he faced at least twice.
“They put three on the ball, basically, every time,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “Two on the ball, three on the ball. They were committed obviously to not let him get downhill.”
Phoenix has been able to do it because Edwards’ teammates have not made the Suns pay. Devoting so much attention to him invariably means that other players will get wide-open looks. Jaden McDaniels has missed eight of his nine 3-point attempts in the three games. Towns is 1 of 8 from beyond the arc in his two games against them. Rudy Gobert’s 9.7 points per game in three contests was his lowest output against any opponent this season.
That all has to change when the two open their playoff series in Minnesota at 2:30 p.m. (CT) Saturday if the Timberwolves are going to have any success. The sample size is small, but damning. And it has done nothing to quell Edwards’ confidence or shake his belief in the right approach to take against these Suns.
“They’re putting three people on me, so I just got to make the right reads, trust my teammates and when some of my teammates hit those shots, they gonna have to eventually get out of it,” Edwards said.
The Suns are putting two on Edwards on the perimeter and adding a third when he goes to the rim. They are hell-bent on keeping him from the most game-altering aspect of his skill set, the acrobatic finish at the rim. They are forcing Edwards to play in a crowd, and that is when the Wolves offense stagnates. He has turned the ball over 10 times in the three games, including five in their last meeting.
The regular-season finale was the idealized form of the Suns’ philosophy. Edwards was held to 13 points and only seven shots. The aggressive double-teaming forced the ball out of his hands early in possessions, and McDaniels (2 of 7), Towns (3 of 8) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (1 of 4) couldn’t cash in. The Wolves also turned the ball over 24 times, tying an NBA record with 19 in the first half.
Bottling up Edwards made the Suns’ job so much easier.
“Make him see a lot of bodies. He’s one of the best scorers and the future of this league, so we’re not going to make it easy on him,” Beal said. “And he’s not going to stop being aggressive either. So it’s going to be a good matchup and a good series.”
The Timberwolves have had five days to look over video and return to the practice court to come up with adjustments. Finch said he wants to see Edwards get some more opportunities in transition for cleaner looks at the basket, and he doesn’t want to take away his aggressiveness just because the Suns are throwing a lot at him.
“Being aggressive, you’ve still got to commit the defense and then make the right play,” Finch said. “But yeah, I’m confident we can get him going.”
Edwards also will have to keep his composure if the calls are not going his way in Game 1. He cannot get caught behind the play defensively while looking for a foul. He cannot start turning the ball over while barreling into a bunch of bodies in the lane in anticipation of being sent to the line. He cannot get discouraged by perceived mistreatment. And he knows it.
“It’s the postseason,” Edwards said. “It wouldn’t bother me at all. I played twice in the postseason, I’m not even going to look for a foul in the postseason because I know what’s going on. Yeah, I’ll be all right.”
This will be Edwards’ third playoff series. He has already shown a knack for bringing his best when the lights are brightest. As the Wolves carry the No. 3 seed into this series against the team that has been their biggest nemesis this season, the lights shining on them have not been this bright in 20 years.
When Finch is looking for answers for his team to use against an opponent, he likens it to assembling a puzzle. He believes this roster has the pieces to solve almost any puzzle they will face. Edwards is the biggest piece.
(Photo of Kevin Durant, Drew Eubanks and Anthony Edwards: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
