Bradley Beal, Suns have plan to shut down Anthony Edwards in playoffs
Beal helped hold Edwards to seven shot attempts in Sunday's season finale.
That dust up involving Bradley Beal and Anthony Edwards on Sunday? Yeah, that was nothing. Beal admitted after the game that his beef was with Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, who allegedly said some things that Beal didn't respect. But that doesn't mean Beal didn't send a clear message to Edwards for what the 22-year-old superstar can expect in the playoffs.
"Team effort. Make it tough on him. I always say 'foul his a**.' Foul him. Be aggressive with him, man. Make him see a lot of bodies," Beal said when asked about matching up with Edwards. "We're not going to make it easy on him if he's not going to stop being aggressive either. It's going to be a good matchup and a good series. He's a young, talented player that's always in attack mode so we gotta make sure we're ready."
Beal may be the X factor in the series. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are tough to stop on any given night, but add in Beal playing at his highest level – he had 36 points, six rebounds and five assists on Sunday – and the Suns are one of the most formidable teams in the league.
"He just went bananas tonight," Suns head coach Frank Vogel said after watching Beal dissect Minnesota. "Look, this guy's one of the best players in the world. People see him as a good player. When he plays like this, he's one of the best players in the world. Because he's doing it on both ends, he's guarding Ant on the other end."
Phoenix swept Minnesota 3-0 in the regular season, winning by double digits in all three meetings. Edwards scored a combined 43 points in the three games for an average of 14.3 per game. He shot a combined 13-of-42 (30.9%) and had a plus/minus of minus-63 in 99 total minutes. Beal played in the last two games between the Suns and Wolves and was a combined plus-32 in 65 minutes.
Despite everything that's happened in the regular season favoring the Suns in the best-of-seven playoff series, Suns coach Frank Vogel is putting past results in the trash.
"It means nothing. We have the utmost respect for this basketball team. They have not played their best against us but we've seen them kick everybody's butt throughout the course of this season," Vogel said . "They got the best defense in the league, Anthony Edwards is one of the most dynamic guys in the league and one of the most difficult guys to stop. They got defensive firepower all over. KAT's still getting his legs under him. He'll be better when the playoffs begin. It's going to be a dogfight."
Game 1 of the series is Saturday in Minneapolis. The start time has not been announced.
