Scouting Report | Wolves at Suns

The Wolves, badly in need of a road win, travel to Phoenix to take on a Suns team that has looked very bad at times this season but found a little mojo on Thursday night when they beat the Dallas Mavericks. 

Maybe Phoenix is just the Mavs’ kryptonite—two of Phoenix’s five wins have come against Dallas—but the Suns’ win on Thursday is a good reminder that despite their record they cannot be taken lightly. This team has talent.

The Wolves, however, have more talent. With Devin Booker still out with a hamstring injury, the Suns have been forced to rely on a group of players who would not be carrying the load for most teams. 

Phoenix does not have a high-powered offense so this could be a great game for the Wolves defense to get back on track after they were absolutely torched by the Kings on Wednesday. Karl-Anthony Towns should have a big game against rookie DeAndre Ayton and though the Suns have some talented wings, the Wolves’ perimeter players should be able to score at will. In particular, Jeff Teague could be one to watch as he faces… to be determined—the Suns point guard rotation is highly in flux.

While it’s easy to panic after a few losses in such a close race in the West, the Wolves are still very much in the playoff hunt, sitting just 2.5 games out of the No. 8 seed.

At this point it’s just about stringing wins together—there’s no time to think about the broader implications of each game and doing so is a waste of energy. The Wolves are entering an easier stretch of games which should give them the opportunity to climb the standings, but they can’t afford to relax. There’s still a lot of time but games in December are just as important as games in March.

What’s great about this team, however, is that most of the players have been a part of playoff hunts and playoff games before—they understand what an effort it takes to fight for positioning. As opposed to last year when everything was new, this year the stakes are understood and the players know where their heads need to be at to do well.

It will be interesting to see how the Wolves use Covington against the Suns. He’s been a little banged up lately so if the Wolves go up big it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him on the bench. The Wolves need Covington at his best and the way he plays is very predicated on mobility so if he’s less than 100 percent it’s probably best to just keep him on the bench. That could mean more minutes for Josh Okogie—something that will no doubt make Wolves fans very happy.

The Wolves are a legitimately deep team right now which is a great thing. It means that if a guy has to take a night off or a rest as a preventative measure the team isn’t doomed to lose. This is why you build talent up even when players don’t play. Okogie, Anthony Tolliver, even players like Dario Saric who are playing but could play more, they’re all ready to go if their name is called and that’s a huge bonus.

Wolves: Jerryd Bayless (knee) is out.

Suns: Devin Booker (hamstring) is out.