Phoenix and Minnesota couldn’t get anything offensive at the Target Center.
Then came the fourth quarter and a thriller broke out. Two teams went back and forth, playing one game at a time. Karl-Anthony Towns threw haymaking for the wolves, with Devin Booker and Chris Paul responding.
In the end, the Star Guard won when Phoenix, the reigning Western Conference champion, defeated Minnesota 99-96 at the Target Center.
Paul scored 19 points in the fourth quarter while Booker added nine.
In the closing seconds of the game, D’Angelo Russell missed Minnesota with two minus points an open look from the depths. Anthony Edwards hampered the offensive rebound, but he quickly turned it around.
There was no shame in Minnesota on Monday, which defended well for most of the game and made enough games late to win. Phoenix (10-3) is just as good.
That’s the problem with losing to bad teams, like Minnesota did earlier this season – the good ones are really, really hard to beat. Still, Monday’s performance can be one to build on if the Wolves can bring that consistent effort and energy forward – something Minnesota has yet to do this season.
In the first 36 minutes it was an offensive for both teams. Certainly deserve the defense, but there was no way to make shots for much of the evening either. Each brand felt like a massive shot in the arm to each team.
Anthony Edwards may have had his worst offensive performance yet. He went 2 for 11 out of the field, including 1 for 6 from depth with six ball losses. To his credit, he got 11 rebounds with six assists.
Towns was responsible for most of the offensive success. Towns was out of the field on his birthday and finished with 35 points in 10v19. But the wolves (4-9) could not bring him any glances in the final minutes with the game on the line.
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