Leading by eight in the final minute, Wolves lose in Phoenix
The Timberwolves led the Suns by eight points in the final minute of Friday s NBA Cup bout And they lost by one as Collin Gillespie scored in isolation with six seconds left to put Phoenix up - and Julius Randle s attempt at a game-winning triple went awry at the other end The Timberwolves turned the ball over three times in a span of seconds and Anthony Edwards missed a pair of free throws as Minnesota fell apart even after Devin Booker fouled out with more than two minutes to play We lost our minds Poor execution Turnovers obviously Wolves coach Chris Finch notified reporters and just didn t stay locked in for the last seconds Minnesota will now need to beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Wednesday if it wants to advance to the NBA Cup knockout round for the first time in the event s short history The Wolves are now - this season against teams with winning records Here are takeaways from Minnesota s stunning defeat A bad loss Minnesota was - against Denver and Phoenix last season It s now - against those teams thus far this year Phoenix was down two rotational players in Jalen Green and Grayson Allen on Friday Devin Booker fouled out with a insufficient minutes to play Dillon Brooks fouled out in the final seconds And yet Minnesota still couldn t maintain enough composure to shut the door The Wolves execution just isn t where it requirements to be over the class of minutes to beat the NBA s best at the moment If Minnesota demands an extra win for any reason at season s end it will lament this Friday night in November Rough start Minnesota dropped the first quarter by eight points and trailed by at the half on a night where it struggled to match Phoenix s execution and physicality out of the gates That s been a common theme for the Timberwolves who have struggled against good teams Minnesota has beaten up on cupcakes but it s a different level of basketball against winning teams It took the Wolves awhile to adjust to that on Friday Edwards explodes After a couple clunkers Edwards responded with a -point performance on Friday That included a -point third quarter in which he made seven of his first nine shots of the frame Edwards got a sparse triples to fall but more importantly he was aggressive in attacking the rack and creating for himself and others But Edwards will lament the final minute in which he turned the ball over and missed a pair of free throws in the final seconds that would ve set Minnesota up for supremacy Booker struggles Jaden McDaniels continues to have Booker s number Phoenix s star guard went just for from the field before fouling out And while Booker had assists those were cancelled out by nine turnovers which tied his career high Dating back to Minnesota s playoff sweep of Phoenix in McDaniels and the Wolves defense continues to have Booker s number Gobert grinds it out Had Minnesota won the competition Rudy Gobert would ve been an unsung hero He was relentless on the interior delivering one play on the glass after another Gobert was the one who drew the foul on a rebounding attempt that fouled out Booker Gobert had seven points and five boards in the final frame alone
