After securing a season sweep of the Minnesota Timberwolves and avoiding the NBA Play-In Tournament with a final-day-of-the-season win, the Phoenix Suns rolled into the NBA Playoffs with some semblance of momentum and what many viewed as an edge over their Round 1 opponent. By the time the 1st Round of the NBA Playoffs began, the Timberwolves and Suns were practically dead even in betting markets as co-series favorites, despite the fact that the Wolves had home court advantage, the league's best defense anchored by the expected winner of the Defensive Player of the Year Award, and a budding superstar in Anthony Edwards.

Speaking of Anthony Edwards, as the Timberwolves were rolling toward a Game 3 win in Phoenix, giving Minnesota a resounding 3-0 advantage in the series and putting the Suns on the brink of a disappointing Round 1 elimination, Edwards turned the clocks back to 1997 and did his best “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels impersonation, hitting the Suns with the DX crotch chop that amazingly remains culturally relevant almost three decades later. You gotta love pro wrestling, right?

After practice on Saturday, Suns forward Kevin Durant was asked about Edwards' late-game antics, and surprisingly, KD had no qualms with what had unfolded on Friday night in the desert. In fact, his message echoed a sentiment that more athletes should share in the postseason… if you're winning in the Playoffs, you have the right to hit your opponent with a callback to DX, to John Cena's “You Can't See Me,” or to take part in any other celebration, affiliated with pro wrestling or not.

Anthony Edwards may be playing some of the best basketball of his young career, and this DX callback wasn't the first time he let the Suns know about it this postseason. In Game 1, as Edwards and Durant were running back down the floor near each other, Ant did not hesitate to let one of the 25 greatest players in the history of the league know that he was feeling himself. And for as long Phoenix Suns fail to prove that they have any answers for what the Timberwolves are throwing at them, I wouldn't expect that one of the league's most confident young stars is going to take his foot off the proverbial gas pedal.

The Suns now have their backs against the wall and face what has historically been an insurmountable spot… an 0-3 hole in the postseason. It's not just that the 2023-24 season would go down as a massive disappointment, a convincing loss to the Timberwolves would call into question almost everything that new Suns owner Mat Ishbia has done since taking over the team in the middle of last season. With a Big Three comprised of Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, the Suns are out of excuses.

So the question that Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns have to answer on Sunday night is a simple one: Are you ready?