The Minnesota Timberwolves made easy work of the lowly Phoenix Suns for the second time in 48 hours on Tuesday night behind another big game from Karl-Anthony Towns.
It’s tough to beat the same team twice in consecutive games, so Minnesota Timberwolves fans would be excused if they watched Tuesday night’s contest with trepidation.
As it turns out, the Wolves’ second quarter run that put them up by 15 points at halftime was enough to take all the intrigue out of the rest of the game.
Karl-Anthony Towns did much of his work early once again against the shorthanded Suns, who were once again without rookie Deandre Ayton and lost both T.J. Warren (to injury) and Devin Booker (to ejection) during the game. The Wolves played without Jeff Teague, who sat out due to a sore foot while Derrick Rose started at point guard.
The most exciting moment of the game was an altercation between Booker and Gorgui Dieng that nearly escalated to blows, and ended with each player showing interest in meeting up in the tunnel between the locker rooms, much to the concern of team security.
Gorgui Dieng told Devin Booker to meet him in the back and they both took off down the tunnel 😳 https://t.co/BjPwajISyu
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 23, 2019
Unfortunately, the two of them were not allowed to have a meeting of the minds after leaving the floor.
The game was all but over at that point, with the Wolves’ lead hovering around 20 points for much of the rest of the game. It was a great opportunity to get Rose (23 minutes), Towns (32 minutes) and Andrew Wiggins (34 minutes) some extra rest.
One key takeaway
The key takeaway from this blowout was the whopping 42 3-point attempts, making 15 (35.7 percent). Clearly, Ryan Saunders is placing more of an emphasis on the 3-point shot, and in the long run, it’ll pay off.
And now we’re going to do something a bit differently tonight and run through some player grades. Enjoy.
Player Grades
The rest of the bench
Luol Deng was ninth on the team in minutes in this one, playing the final 15 minutes of the game and shooting 2-of-6 from the floor and grabbing five rebounds. Dieng was ejected and only played five minutes.
That leaves the garbage time trio of second-round pick Keita Bates-Diop and two-way players C.J. Williams and Jared Terrell. Bates-Diop made a mid-range jumper and grabbed two rebounds, Williams drained a deep three off the dribble and had a rebound and an assist, and Terrell had five points and an assist.
What’s Next?
The Timberwolves continue the road trip with a Thursday night showdown with the Lakers in L.A. The game tips off at 9:30 p.m. and will be nationally-televised on TNT.