Timberwolves come up just short, again, lose 99-96 to Suns
For much of three quarters the teams traded, mainly, misses. Oh, and some turnovers. In the case of the Timberwolves, enough complaining to warrant two technicals.
Not a lot of points.
Slogging around in the fourth quarter, both teams destined to finish south of 100, the game was waiting to be taken hold of, with the Wolves clinging to a one-point lead with 1½ minutes left.
And then: What always seems to happen, happened.
In a game with 16 lead changes and 16 ties, in which both teams shot south of 40%, the Wolves did just enough to lose, 99-96, on Monday night at Target Center.
The Suns (10-3) won their ninth straight. The Wolves (4-9) lost their second straight and for the eighth time in nine games.
The Wolves led by a point when D'Angelo Russell hit two free throws with 1:28 left. At the other end Deandre Ayton scored with 1:13 left. Russell missed and Devin Booker scored with 46.8 seconds left for a three-point Suns lead.
At the other end Patrick Beverley scored on a put-back with 37.4 seconds left. He was fouled and went to the free throw line but missed with a chance to tie.
Chris Paul was fouled and hit both free throws with 19.1 seconds left to put the Suns up 97-94.
Russell scored with 17.8 seconds left. Fouled, Booker hit one of two free throws with 16.1 seconds left to make it a two-point Suns lead.
The Wolves came down and Russell missed an open three-pointer. Anthony Edwards got the rebound but lost his handle on the ball, ending the Wolves threat.
Booker finished with 29 points. Chris Paul scored 19 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. Center Deandre Ayton had 22 points and 12 boards.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 35 with 13 rebounds for the Wolves. Russell had 22, Malik Beasley 10.
Towns owned the first quarter. He made four of seven shots, scored 14 of the Wolves' 21 points and grabbed seven of his team's rebounds, nearly reaching a double-double in 12 minutes of play.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Wolves shot a combined 4-for-15.
Towns, who was 2-for-5 on threes in the quarter, hit two free throws with 5:05 left to put the Wolves up seven points.
That lead was down to four points by quarter's end, as the Wolves scored just three points in the final five minutes of the quarter. Cameron Johnson's basket near the end of the quarter brought the Suns within 21-18 entering the second.
Both teams continued struggling offensively in the second quarter, but the Suns less so. Behindnine points from center Deandre Ayton, the Suns grabbed a 40-39 halftime lead by finishing the second quarter on a 7-1 run, capped by two Booker free throws.
Only a contained three-shot three-point burst from Malik Beasley – he scored half of the team's 18 second-quarter points – kept The Wolves close.
Third quarter was the same story, neither team playing well enough on offense to take advantage of the other team's mistakes.
For example: the game was tied at 54 when Anthony Edwards drove for a scorewith 4:55 left. Over the rest of the quarter the Wolves made two of seven shots, committed three turnovers and were whistled for two technical, one each on Edwards and Towns.
And yet the Wolves were still within 66-62 entering the fourth because the Suns made just seven of 24 third-quarter shots.
