Game Recap: Suns win thriller in Minnesota, 108-105

SB Nation

The Phoenix Suns secured a gutsy road win led by young guys, minimum contracts, and role players. Sound familiar? It’s been the story of the 2025-26 Phoenix Suns. It’s their identity. And now they are

14-10.

It was a physical, chippy game between two teams with no love lost for one another. Mark Williams got a flagrant for smacking Gobert in the face. Rudy Gobert followed that up with an ejection for a reckless, dirty foul on Williams. Mark Williams hit his first career three. The Suns went two-for-two in challenges.

Mark Williams led the Suns in scoring with 22 points. Collin Gillepsie poured in 19 points, and Dillon Brooks chipped in with 18 of his own. There was a lot of chaos in this one.

“Next man up,” as Collin Gillespie said in the postgame interview on Peacock.

Game Flow

First Half

The Suns jumped out to a quick start, taking a 16-10 lead led by 8 points from Dillon Brooks. Allen and Williams each had four of their own.

The Suns remained in control, pushing the pace early and often to extend their lead to seven, 23-16. The Suns’ early defensive effort was promising, slowing down Minnesota on its home floor. Their activity on the boards was apparent early on, as well.

Minnesota lost a challenge early on an out-of-bounds call, and Brooks let them know about it by flashing his pinky their way.

Phoenix finished the first quarter with a 29-23 lead. Dillon Brooks led Phoenix with 8 points. Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 12 in the opening period.

The NBC broadcast crew stated, “This is such a connected group offensively,” after a Gillespie alley oop to Oso Ighodaro.

Jamaree Bouyea hit a triple to make it a 34-26 lead with ten minutes remaining in the second quarter. Phoenix was at its best in transition, pushing the ball and whipping it around for open looks from deep.

Phoenix won its second challenge late in the quarter, reversing what would have been an offensive foul on Grayson Allen into an and-one. This successful challenge also prevented Allen from picking up his 4th foul.

Minnesota started to fight back, cutting the lead down to just 3. A Grayson Allen movement three a couple of possessions later proved to make the challenge worthwhile.

He also hit this ridiculous step-through to close the half.

Phoenix led 61-57 at the break. They shot 50% (24-48) from the floor as a team.

Second Half

Mark Williams hit the first three-pointer of his NBA career early in the 3rd quarter.

The next possession, he picked up a Flagrant foul 1 on a Rudy Gobert contest at the rim. Several plays later, Rudy Gobert took exception to the hard contest and recklessly shoved Williams while he was airborne, leading to a Flagrant foul 2 and ejection for the French big.

The teams continued to trade buckets with Phoenix slightly out in front for the majority of the game. In fact, they had led wire-to-wire up until the end of the third quarter for a brief moment.

Anthony Edwards was red hot, pouring in 32 points in his first 26 minutes of action on just 15 shots. He was carrying the Minnesota offensive workload throughout.

Minnesota’s first lead of the game came with 3:12 in the 3rd quarter after a Julius Randle jumper. Dillon Brooks matched that shot with a pretty turnaround jumper off a shimmy.

Dillon Brooks traded buckets with Anthony Edwards late in the third to get a bit of momentum back. After three, the teams were knotted up at 84.

A furious 7-0 start to the quarter pushed the Suns to a jump out to a 91-84 lead with 10:15 remaining in the 4th. A Gillespie-Bouyea-Goodwin-Dunn-Oso unit led this run. Phoenix continued to cook with the second unit, but then Anthony Edwards checked back in and sparked Minnesota to cut what was once an 11-point lead down to 4, leading to a Suns timeout.

The 4th quarter was a slugfest, with each team laying it all on the line. Collin Gillespie made some heroic plays. He finished with 11 fourth-quarter points, including two clutch free throws in the final seconds.

Ice in his veins. Final Score: Phoenix 108 — Minnesota 105