The Timberwolves played yet another thrilling road game that went down to the wire, but came up just short this time around.
The Wolves starters were once again fantastic for much of the game, but in a recurring theme, the bench struggled and the starters seemingly ran out of gas in the second half and were unable to put away the Suns.
Phoenix is now 18-49 on the season and is a clearly inferior team with a weird mix of veterans with a couple youngish players, but the Wolves were unable to close them out down the stretch.
Minnesota led by 10 points at halftime, but came out of the locker room flat and relinquished much of his lead by the fourth quarter, leading by only two points as the final frame opened.
The Wolves’ defense was actually fairly decent throughout the evening, forcing a number of turnovers from the Suns and igniting the fast break offense for much of the night.
Heading down the stretch, the two squads went back and forth and were never separated by more than two possessions. After being tied with four minutes remaining, the Suns took a 98-94 lead on a Tyson Chandler tip-slam with 2:20 showing on the clock.
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Karl-Anthony Towns made one of two free throws on the other end, and after a Suns turnover, the Wolves ran a perfect play to get Zach LaVine an open three-pointer after zooming around a trio of screens. It was also Ricky Rubio‘s franchise record-tying 17th assist of the night.
But after a Suns timeout, Mirza Teletovic hit a three-pointer of his own, giving the home team a 101-98 lead with 1:36 left in the game. Both teams missed jumpers, and then Towns was fouled on an over-the-back call on Chandler, which was also the sixth and final foul of the evening on the Suns’ center.
Towns drained both free throws, bringing the Wolves to within one point with 32.4 seconds remaining.
On the other end, Devin Booker drove left around Zach LaVine, but Ricky Rubio sagged off of his man and stripped the ball clean from the Suns’ rookie guard. Heading down court down one, Rubio was fouled by Booker with 12.9 seconds left and made both free throws, putting the Timberwolves up, 102-101.
The Wolves had a foul to give and intended to use it, but LaVine waited too long to foul Booker and the officials gave continuation as the desperation shot fell. Booker completed the and-one and put the Suns up two.
On the other end, Wiggins converted the layup on the same action that the Wolves ran in the end-of-game situation in Oklahoma City. He appeared to be hit on the head by Alex Len, but the officials didn’t blow the whistle.
The Suns inbounded at mid-court with 4.6 seconds left. Teletovic came around a set of screens, caught the inbounds pass, and drained a tough, off-balance three-pointer from the wing with just 1.2 seconds remaining.
After a Wolves timeout, Shabazz Muhammad missed a contested three-pointer in the corner as the buzzer sounded, giving the lowly Suns the victory.
Tweets of the Night
Wiggs! https://t.co/gXUeUvBWmO
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 15, 2016
Star of the Night
Ricky Rubio -“ 13 points (3-11 FG, 1-4 3P, 6-6 FT), 17 assists, 3 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 turnovers
Rubio had a second consecutive strong game, and has played significantly better over the past couple of weeks overall.
On this night, he missed a mostly-open layup and a few open jumpers, but did everything else at an elite level, per usual. He had 12 assists by halftime, didn’t get one in the third quarter, but dropped five more dimes down the stretch to get the Wolves back into the game.
He once again had a team-leading plus/minus of +12, and only turned the ball over three times on the night. That means that he has had 29 assists versus three turnovers over the past two games.
That’s good.
Notable Timberwolves Lines
Zach LaVine – 28 points (10-15 FG, 3-7 3P, 5-6 FT), 3 rebounds, one assist, one turnover
Karl-Anthony Towns – 17 points (6-13 FG, 5-7 FT), 10 rebounds, 2 assists, one steal, 3 turnovers
Andrew Wiggins –€“ 22 points (9-14 FG, 2-5 3P, 2-4 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, one block, one turnover
LaVine and Wiggins continued to play well, and Towns had his second-straight solid-but-not-spectacular game. It’s a high bar, isn’t it?
Who’s Next?
The Wolves will head to Memphis to take on an embarrassingly depleted Grizzlies squad that just lost by 50 points at Houston on Monday before then heading down to H-Town themselves to take on those Rockets.
Next: No Frills Wolves Podcast: Potential Off-Season Roster Moves
The loss in Phoenix is disappointing, especially given the plausibility of a win in Memphis on Wednesday. What could have easily been a 3-1 road trip is looking likely to be 2-2 at best.