Suns (21-16) vs. T-Wolves (5-28): What to watch

Just one night removed from their 21st win of the year, the Suns have a real chance to start making some noise in the West over their next two games; it all starts with a win tonight.

Phoenix has been sitting in eighth in the West for what feels like ages, but with a win, the team would move up into a tie for seventh (with San Antonio), before facing off against the Spurs a couple of nights later. However, it’s not time to look ahead just yet, as Phoenix still has to take care of business tonight.

The Suns will face a Timberwolves team that has lost 12 in a row, allowing 110 points or more six times during that stretch. The Timberwolves will look to snap that streak at 7:30 p.m. (MST) on national television (ESPN), but it’s the Suns who should start getting used to the primetime spot.

Counting tonight, the Suns will have 18 games that are nationally televised during the rest of the year, following a stretch that seldom saw the Suns get any national attention. Furthermore, there will be a stretch (from the middle of February to the beginning of March) where the Suns will have seven games out of 11 televised on either ESPN, NBATV or TNT.

The increased exposure will coincide with the Suns’ battle to make the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference, but for now the team should be focused on just one thing: Winning the next game.

Things have been clicking for the Suns as of late, starting with the always overlooked Goran Dragic. Gogi’s offense has been key for the Suns, as he’s scored 15 or more points in eight of the Suns’ last nine games, while shooting 40% or better from three seven times during that stretch. Dragic has continued to mesh well with Bledsoe and Thomas, especially when the Suns turn to the three-point guard lineup to close out quarters.

Dragic hasn’t been the only one of the trio of talented point guards to play well, however, as Bledsoe and Thomas have each helped out the cause in different ways. Thomas has done a good job providing the spark off of the bench when needed, evident by the 24.0 points per 40 minutes he’s put up this year (which is a career high). Bledsoe, on the other hand, has managed to do a bit of everything. In fact, here’s a list of players, other than Eric Bledsoe, that have at least 600 points, 220 assists, 190 rebounds, 50 steals and 25 blocks so far this year:

1. James Harden

That’s all.

It’s a pretty short list.

With all three point guards playing well, in addition to much improved play of Alex Len, the Suns should be able to control this game, but as we’ve seen over the last few days, with the Pistons, 76ers, Hornets and Nuggets racking up improbable wins, you really can’t count out any opponent.

An anniversary of sorts

Exactly one year ago tomorrow, the Suns were facing off against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a Wednesday night contest that was featured on ESPN. Talk about déjà vu. Let’s take a trip down memory lane…

The date is January 8, 2014. The Suns are 20-13, looking to bounce back from a loss to the Chicago Bulls. Eric Bledsoe is injured, so the team brought up Leandro Barbosa to come off the bench, while Gerald Green takes over for Bled in the starting five.

The game got off to a good start for Phoenix, as the team controlled much of the first half, taking a six-point lead into the break. However, a Timberwolves rally would leave the Suns trailing heading into the fourth, as the Timberwolves were getting contributions from their entire team. Four Minnesota starters scored 15 or more points, and the fifth, Ricky Rubio, nearly put up a triple-double.

The Suns kept Minnesota from pulling away, but they needed to make something happen quickly, down six with just 100 seconds left in the fourth. P.J. Tucker stepped up first, getting to the line and knocking down a pair of free throws, and on the next possession it would be Goran Dragic with a clutch basket; the lead was down to two. Another stop gave the Suns a chance to tie or take the lead, and Markieff Morris would draw a foul, but he’d only make one of his two free throws.

One point game. 40 seconds left.

Markieff Morris would make up for his mistake, picking the pocket of Ricky Rubio for his second steal of the evening, but the Suns still needed a basket. Gerald Green stepped up:

While the Suns will be looking to repeat the result from that 2014 meeting, the team will be hoping for a couple of things to play out differently. For starters, Alex Len struggled in that meeting, with just two points and five rebounds in twelve minutes of play. Obviously, Len will need to play better than that, but he’s also a much better player than he was last year, so that shouldn’t be much of an issue. Second, the Suns will have Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas at their disposal, compared to Ish Smith and Leandro Barbosa in that meeting last year. With all due respect to Smith and Barbosa, I’m going to go ahead and say that Bledsoe and Thomas will have more of a positive impact.

On a serious note, something that the Suns will want to see remain constant is the rebounding numbers, as Phoenix and Minnesota were neck-and-neck in the meeting one year ago. Simply put, the Suns are better than the Timberwolves, so as long as they don’t get killed on the offensive glass or allow a crazy number of threes, they should win this this game.

Dealing with Andrew Wiggins

Following a very strong freshman campaign, where he set the freshman record for points at the University of Kansas, Andrew Wiggins was selected first in the NBA Draft. While Wiggins had been able to score at the college level, his two greatest attributes coming into the league were his defense and athleticism, but sure enough his offensive game has started to come together, especially as of late.

With an array of moves, including his signature spinning layup and a lightning-quick step-back jumper, Wiggins is certainly capable of being an elite scorer in the future. He’s already starting to show flashes of brilliance, leading all rookies (including Jabari Parker when he was healthy) in scoring. In fact, in his last seven games, Wiggins has cracked the 20-point mark 6 times, and he’s even posted 27 points on two separate occasions, while racking up around five rebounds, three assists and three blocks and steals per game. Originally, teams tried to give him the John Wall treatment and dare him to shoot, but Wiggins has shot 40.0% from three this year, and 45.5% from long range in his last seven games, so that strategy hasn’t been effective at all. Just ask James Harden:

So the question remains: How do you stop Andrew Wiggins?

First, Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas have to be very careful with the ball. You don’t want to give Wiggins a chance to run in transition, not to mention the fact that he plays alongside Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad, both of whom are capable of getting out on a fast break. Second, whoever draws the assignment of guarding Wiggins (likely P.J. Tucker) will need to stay in front of him at all times. Even if it means face guarding at times, the Suns’ defenders cannot afford to lose sight of Wiggins, as he will backdoor cut to the rim for an easy alley-oop dunk the second he gets the chance. Wiggins isn’t at the stage of his career where he can straight up dominate a team like T-Mac or Kobe used to do, but if he is allowed to get going, he can be very difficult to stop. You think by now teams would get the memo…

What’s at stake?

This game will mark the second stop on the Suns four-game road trip, and it will be crucial for the team to get a win, especially considering that the remaining two games are against teams currently in playoff position. A win would move the Suns to 22-16, which would give them possession of the seventh seed in the West (with the head-to-head tie breaker over San Antonio).

The Spurs have gone 4-8 over their last 12 games, and while they may turn it around when Kawhi Leonard comes back, it certainly won’t be a cakewalk. Leonard is slated to return sometime around the week of January 11-17, and just going off of projected records, the Spurs would be likely to go 2-3 until then, meaning that the team would be 23-18 when Leonard is back to full strength. At that point, the Spurs would need to go 27-14 just to get to the 50-win mark, which last season would have given them the seventh seed, with the ninth seed in the West (Phoenix) just two games behind. However, it seems like things are going to be harder this year, as the West has only gotten better.

Now obviously, a lot of this is tied up in hypotheticals, but the Spurs have been known to coast at the end of the regular season. Last year, the team finished the year with a 3-4 record in its last seven games, and the year before that, the Spurs finished out the season going 5-8 in their last 13, losing four of their last five games. The Spurs have been able to build up a big lead and coast these last couple of years, but that’s not something they’ll be able to do this time.

It’ll be interesting to see how the bodies of some of the older players on the team hold up, as that would likely be the biggest factor if the Spurs were to miss the playoffs. After all, through 36 games last year, the Spurs were 28-8, and the year before that, they were 27-9; this year they’re 21-15. The Spurs and Thunder are probably still most likely to be the seventh and eighth seeds at the end of the year, but people are certainly starting to talk about the possibility of them missing out, which may not necessarily be cause for alarm, but it isn’t nothing.

Prediction

The Suns have already blown games against lower competition this year, so the team shouldn’t be looking past anyone. However, the Timberwolves can be feisty, and the Suns have gone 2-6 when on a SEGABABA, so this game may be closer than some expect, but ultimately, the Timberwolves will have no answer for the sheer volume of scorers that exist within the Suns roster.

Suns 108, Timberwolves 99

Next: Should The Suns Look Into Samuel Dalembert?