5 days Ago
Timberwolves veteran Julius Randle’s buzzer-beating shot Sunday at Target Center beat Phoenix 120-117 after his team had trailed nearly all afternoon. It ended his 35-point game that included five threes, with emphasis on the last one. Wolves forward Jaden McDaniels’ powerful drive to the basket for an emphatic slam dunk and star Anthony Edwards’ four points scored in the final minute set up Randle’s winner.
Until the fourth-quarter comeback, the Suns had led by as many as 16 points and the Wolves by never more than three. For more than 47 minutes Sunday, Phoenix star Devin Booker and the Suns aimed to do what they couldn’t do with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal on their side in last year’s first-round playoff series. The Wolves swept them in four games in the playoffs.
With Durant and Beal both out injured and shooter Grayson Allen questionable, Booker stepped forth and scored 27 of his 44 points by halftime. When it was all over, Booker had made 15 of 29 field-goal attempts — including six of 13 three-point shots — while Randle kept the Wolves in pursuit with his 35-point afternoon. Booker’s 44 came two days after Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox scored a franchise-record 60 points against them in a home loss in a NBA Cup game.
Booker scored his after his team had gotten blitzed by Oklahoma City and Sacramento to start two blowout losses the Suns’ last two times out. Before Sunday’s game, Suns new coach Mike Budenholzer said his team is professional enough that he didn’t have to remind players to start games better. This time, the Suns started fast, building leads of 10-2, 29-10 and 31-22 by first quarter’s end.
They led 64-54 at halftime and 90-86 after three quarters. The Wolves got as close as a point, but the Suns pushed back, scoring the fourth quarter’s first seven points. The Suns played without Durant and Beal, sidelined by calf injuries, while shooter Grayson Allen — called a game-time decision — played.
He came off the bench midway through the first quarter. Big man Jusuf Nurkic played as well, starting the game at center before he found early foul trouble that sent him to the bench. Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo was called a pregame decision as well — and entered the game later in the first quarter.
Budenholzer was hired as Milwaukee’s coach in 2018, the same year the Bucks drafted Villanova guard DiVincenzo 17th overall. They’ve each taken their own routes to find their way back to each other on opposing benches Sunday at Target Center. “Just a great, great, great young player,” Budenholzer said, looking back.
“One of the best predraft interviews I’ve ever had. He is so mature. Such a winner.
We talked a lot about being a competitor. That’s his calling card. That’s his ace.
I loved coaching him, love the human and I’m happy to see his success and how he has grown. He’s one of the really great guys in our league.” When asked about that predraft interview, Budenholzer said: “Just an awareness of who he is and what’s important to winning.
Everybody talks about winning, but it’s difficult to understand and know what it takes. It’s great when you can have a conversation and talk to somebody who really gets it.” DiVincenzo scored all of his 15 points on three-pointers Sunday, going 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.
Sunday’s game featured what’s becoming somewhat of a rarity in today’s NBA: Two throwback, pass-first point guards in the Wolves’ Mike Conley and the Suns’ Tyus Jones, Apple Valley’s own. “There’s a trend to anybody bringing it up, playing faster, more random,” Budenholzer said before the game. “Those things tend to trend away from having that setup point guard.
You have to learn to take advantage of that kind of player when you have one. Obviously, Minnesota with Conley, one of the greats at his position. Not sure how long he’s gone on now, how many years, but a lot.
“And then Tyus for us. Any time you have good players just have to learn how to take advantage of them. Those guys have adjusted well to the league and still know how important they are to both teams.
” Jones made a couple of fourth-quarter floaters to keep the Wolves away. He finished with 13 points, 11 assists and three steals. Sunday was a 2:30 p.
m. opening tip, a rare start against NFL telecasts, particularly the end of the Vikings-Tennessee game. The reason: Prime-time teams scheduled to prime-time coverage in European Sunday night markets.
The 2:30 start didn’t allow for a shootaround or morning meeting after the Wolves flew home from Sacramento on Saturday. They gathered a little earlier in the locker room instead, Finch said before Sunday’s game. Ant pays up The NBA on Sunday fined Edwards $35,000 for making an on-court obscene gesture late in the first quarter of Friday’s 130-126 overtime victory at Sacramento in an NBA Cup game.
Remembering The Wolves before the game held a moment of silence to remember their former scout and longtime NBA scout Brent Haskins. The son of former Gophers coach Clem Haskins was 51..
