Guo Xu did not perform well in the second half, shooting 8-of-20, 2-of-8 three-pointers, and 5-of-6 free throws, scoring 23 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists.

Stoudamire had a team-high 27 points and eight rebounds; Marion had 16 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.

The worst performer was Joe Johnson, who shot 3-of-13, 1-of-5 from three-point range and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line, scoring just nine points and three assists, much to the disappointment of Suns fans.

On the Timberwolves' side, the "three-headed monster" scored 63 points in the whole game, and Szczebiak also scored 11 points.

After the game, the Timberwolves "three-headed monster" participated in the press conference, and they all expressed confidence in defeating the Suns to advance to the Finals.

Cassel scored 20 points and 6 assists, and his statistics were not inferior to Guo Xu, proving his strength on the offensive end. This person plays very disgusting, always blocks and takes it to the weak side, if he doesn't attract the inside line to change defense, Guo Xu is not easy to defend with the ball and back, he can't cover it, and his shooting anti-interference ability is also good.

Cassel was very happy after the win, and said in an interview: "Didn't Jason want to see what my expression was after the game? Now he can see it. ”

With that, Cassel showed a stiff smile, and the reporters shrank back in unison.

Garnett happily sarcastically mocked Guo Xu. "We're a bunch of fighters, and we won't lose to players who run to shoot little girls' music videos during the playoffs and go to college concerts, and we love basketball more than Jason Guo."

Sprewell also said: "We have a way to deal with the Suns, we can break down their defense in the regular season, they just rely on the run-and-gun tactics to win easily against the underdogs, once the tempo slows down it will be problematic, they are not as strong as they think." ”

It was the sun's turn to be interviewed, and the reporter told Guo Xu what Garnett and others said, Guo Xu shook his head and smiled: "What they said is so reasonable, I am speechless." ”

If you lose, you lose, there's no need to find a reason, but he has to win four games in the playoffs to advance, and he doesn't worry about the next games.

The reporter asked: "Do you regret going to shoot the MV?" ”

"What is there to regret? I had to do what I had agreed with my friends, and even if I went back to Phoenix, I would stay at home and rest for two days, and I wouldn't practice right away, so we had a good week's rest. ”

The reporter asked: "Miss Fox and you filmed Avril Lavigne's MV together, and today I watched the game in the front row of the home field, and some media broke the news that you are in and out of the same community, are you living together?" ”

"Let's talk about basketball and talk about relationships after the season." Guo Xu smiled awkwardly.

Originally, he wanted someone to ask and admit it, but if he lost today, it's better to continue to hide it.

If you admit that you have a girlfriend at this juncture, with the media's habitual urine, you will definitely have to shape Meghan as "Su Daji". As the saying goes, there is a knife on the head of the color word, and some fans will also say that it is Megan who prevented Guo Xu from death.

In fact, because of the long break, the state of the Suns players went wrong, and it was too much.

Such a long break can make the players feel a little weird, like the occasional problem of inattention. They're used to being relaxed, and there's not much room for error in the playoffs.

During training, Marion said that it was a bit like an offseason, that they had not been training at a high intensity, and that they would go home and rest and wait for the game to start.

The Suns' low training intensity is directly related to the geographical location, the weather in Phoenix is too hot, it is only May, and the daytime temperature is already above 30 degrees. Under such conditions, everyone is reluctant to train at high intensity, and D'Antoni pursues a fast-paced transition between attack and defense, ensuring physical strength is the key, and positional warfare is left to Guo Xu to solve the problem, and there are not many tactics.

Tactically, the Timberwolves do restrain the Suns, they can limit the fast break and force the opponent to play the position. When Madsen and Garnett play together, the Timberwolves are also very fast inside.

After the game, many people on the Internet changed their tunes, and there were more people who were optimistic that the Timberwolves would advance to the finals and win the championship.

Some experts analyze the lineup and believe that the Timberwolves' roster depth is better than that of the Suns, and it is true that the "three-headed monsters" have just formed a team, but they all have rich playoff experience, and the two have Finals experience.

In 1999, Sprewell played in the Finals as the core of the Knicks, but lost to the Spurs.

Kassel was selected by the Rockets in the first round in 1993 with the 24th place, and was lucky to win two consecutive championships with the Rockets as soon as he entered the league.

Although Garnett has never passed the first round of the playoffs before, he has now reached the peak of his career in all abilities, and if it weren't for Guo Xu's three statistics list this year, his performance would be enough to win the MVP.

The Suns players performed well in the regular season, but they were too young, the core players were all young, and there was only one veteran, Kukoc, who was reduced to a marginal man and had little chance to play. Run-and-gun is an extreme tactic, and once the opponent is also able to run, it will not work.

Before the start of the series, the Suns were in full swing, the first two rounds were swept to advance, no one mentioned the experience of young players, and as soon as the Suns lost, they began to analyze the Suns' weaknesses and find the reason for the loss.

To put it bluntly, neither side has an overwhelming advantage, and the side with better luck and player condition wins.

The second battle continued in Phoenix.

Guo Xu, Joe Johnson, Bell and others practiced shooting in the morning, and the coaching staff believed that as long as they were not iron outside the three-point line, they could successfully defeat the Timberwolves.

In the cheers of the Suns fans, the home team opened very well, although Guo Xu was tightly guarded, it was difficult to have an easy shot, but he attracted the bag and frequently assisted his teammates, only in the first half he cut 10 assists, he also scored 13 points, and hoped to cut a big double-double.

The Suns led by 18 points at halftime, 65-47.

In the positional battle, the Timberwolves were more successful in defending Guo Xu, but he singled out Kassel in the counterattack, and his teammates were not easy to wrap up.

The Timberwolves' tactics are to reduce the pace of offense and defense and grind the position; The Suns tried to bring the tempo up, with the players running at full speed.

The Timberwolves are not easy to defend when they send a high forward, Haslem is the main defense of Garnett, and as long as he runs up when counterattacking, Xiaosi will play against Johnson or Olawokandi, even if he can't get rid of it directly, he has an advantage in receiving the ball and hitting the basket.

In the third quarter, both sides defended well, and the shooting percentage of players dropped, and the single quarter was tied at 20, and the Suns led into the final quarter.

The Suns maintained their dominance in the first half of the last quarter, and the clouds changed abruptly in the second half.

Sprewell suddenly had a convulsion, hit three three-pointers in a row, and once broke through to make a layup to make it 2+1, and scored 12 points with a burst shot to help the Timberwolves catch up with the difference.

Garnett and Cassel's mid-range shots helped the Timberwolves complete the comeback in the final 15 seconds.

The Suns trailed by just one point, and after the timeout, D'Antoni arranged a singles strategy, sending Bale, Joe Johnson, Marion, Xiao Si and Guo Xu as partners.

This is the Suns' strongest offensive lineup that can open up space, and Guo Xu has attracted the bag and can share the ball to help his teammates create a mobile opportunity.

As soon as the throw-in was issued, the Timberwolves wrapped up Guo Xu, and he passed the ball to Joe Johnson, who attracted the rotation defense outside the three-point line and then passed to Marion, who missed the basket in the open space on the left baseline.

The Suns, who trailed by one point, had to resort to foul tactics, and Garnett hit both free throws to widen the gap to three points.

After that, Guo Xu was caught again and passed the ball to Kukoc, although the veteran is experienced, he has too little playing time this year, and he didn't take advantage of the opportunity when he was ordered to do so, and the vacant jump shot was missed.

101-104, the Suns lost again......