The Suns’ game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night carried real weight. This was one of those opportunities you circle, one where you can make up ground and shift the standings in your favor as you try to climb out of the Play-In.
And they let it slip.
Phoenix walked out of Minnesota with a 116-104 loss, and the story felt familiar. The Timberwolves brought physicality, defensive intensity, and rim protection, and it took the Suns out of what they wanted to do. For the third straight
game, a quality defense made second-half adjustments that completely disrupted Phoenix’s offense. Once that happened, everything unraveled. The offense stalled, and the response on the other end did not hold. The paint opened, possessions became easier for Minnesota, and it turned into a layup line. That has been the pattern during this stretch. When the offense goes quiet, the defense does not stabilize things. The Suns scored just 18 points in the 4th.
Phoenix shot 38% from the field, and the inefficiency showed up everywhere.
Jordan Goodwin went 1-of-6. Collin Gillespie finished 4-of-13. And Jalen Green, whose last name happens to align with St. Patrick’s Day, had an ironic night, going 3-of-17 and scoring only nine points.
Now the Suns find themselves three games out of the sixth seed with 13 to go, and the margin for error continues to shrink.
Game Flow
First Half
Minnesota came out with a clear intention. Attack the interior, lean into their size, make Phoenix feel it early. No surprise there. But to the Suns’ credit, they had a counter ready. They went five out with Oso Ighodaro pulling Rudy Gobert away from the paint, and that changed the geometry of the floor immediately. The lane opened. The spacing felt clean. Suddenly, those driving angles were there, and Phoenix took advantage.
Phoenix opened the game 7-of-11 from the field, and every single make came with an assist attached to it. The ball was moving. The offense was breathing, and Collin Gillespie was at the center of it. Four assists on those seven made field goals, orchestrating, reading, making the right decision. He kept things connected, which is when this offense looks its best.
The first round of rotations brought a familiar name back into the mix. Ryan Dunn checked in, which stood out considering the past few games had leaned toward Rasheer Fleming or Haywood Highsmith in those minutes. This time, Jordan Ott gave the sophomore a longer look. Khaman Maluach was part of that initial rotation as well.
Devin Booker set the tone early in a way that felt both encouraging and familiar. He had a pair of and-1 opportunities, leaning into Minnesota’s physicality and turning it into an advantage. There was a stretch where he scored 9 consecutive points. It echoed what we saw in Boston, where he carried the load and kept Phoenix steady when things could have tilted.
Minnesota stayed within reach through effort plays. Long rebounds bounced their way, and they capitalized. Five offensive rebounds early turned into 11 second-chance points, which kept them afloat while Phoenix controlled much of the flow.
While last night it was Derrick White and Payton Pritchard catching fire from beyond the arc, this time it was Bones Hyland for Minnesota. He checked in midway through the quarter and immediately got going, finishing 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep for a quick 11 points.
Despite Phoenix scoring 39 points in the first quarter and shooting 46.2% from three, they only led by three at the end of the frame. Devin Booker led all scorers with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and Collin Gillespie added six assists as the Suns took a 39–36 lead into the second.
With Devin Booker on the bench to start the second, it was Jalen Green running the offense, and he was doing a good job. He hit a step-back three and delivered a smooth assist to Rasheer Fleming in the lane. But there is a reason we call him “Guacamole”. Because sometimes is browns fast, and it did for Green in the second. He went 1-of-8 in the quarter, including a missed wide-open layup at the end of the quarter.
With 9:24 left in the quarter, Naz Reid went down on a play where Jordan Goodwin grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds. Reid came down on Goodwin’s ankle and tweaked it. The Suns challenged the play, and for the 48th time this season, they were right as Goodwin was fouled. Insult to injury for Minnesota, although Reid would return in the third.
Rasheer Fleming continued to look good early, starting 3-of-5 from the field and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, with one of those attempts being a grenade passed to him with under a second on the shot clock.
As the second quarter went on, both teams traded blows. Five minutes in, the Suns were being outscored 15–14 by the Timberwolves. The Suns’ offense started to sputter, going 3-of-12 from the field, but it came at a time when Minnesota cooled off as well. Still, with 2:23 left in the second quarter, the 11-point lead Phoenix built early was gone as the Timberwolves tied the game.
The Suns shot 35.7% from the field in the quarter, and Jalen Green struggled, going 3-of-14 in the first half with eight points and four assists. Oso Ighodaro led the way efficiently with 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go along with five rebounds, while Devin Booker added 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
Minnesota had three players in double figures, led by Bones Hyland with 15 off the bench, Julius Randle with 13, and Jaden McDaniels with 12. Entering halftime, the Suns trailed 64–63.
Second Half
Collin Gillespie has struggled offensively of late, and he had zero points in the first half. But he opened the second half with a pair of three-point makes. It was clear the Suns made a point to get him involved, as he had four of their first six shot attempts.
The Suns’ offense started to go cold again, as they put together another scoreless stretch. They missed eight consecutive shots midway through the third, and turnovers began to pile up. Credit Minnesota’s defense; they were dictating the pace and disrupting everything Phoenix tried to run. Despite all of that, with six minutes left in the quarter, the Suns only trailed by two.
Devin Booker was clearly frustrated with the physicality, which is not surprising against a team like Minnesota. They lean into that style and make you feel it on every possession. On one end, Booker thought he deserved an and one after getting bumped on a drive and finish at the rim. On the other, Bones Hyland attacked and got a foul call on a very similar play. Jordan Ott challenged it and lost, but the moment stood out.
The physicality was ramping up on both sides, and you could feel the temperature rising. Players were chirping, reactions were getting sharper, and the officials were right in the middle of it as the game started to take on that edge.
Ryan Dunn, who had logged consecutive DNPs, played quality minutes in the third. He had seven points and four rebounds in the quarter, along with an impressive block on Bones Hyland. For someone who has not seen the floor much lately, his number was called, and he delivered.
Devin Booker once again carried a heavy load, especially with Jalen Green struggling to find offense. Booker scored or assisted on 15 consecutive points in the third, keeping Phoenix afloat. Late in the quarter, with under 30 seconds left, he tried the Chris Paul slow roll move, letting the ball drift up the floor. Minnesota jumped it, forced the turnover, and Booker followed it with a frustration foul on Julius Randle.
The next possession? Booker turned it over again, which led to a fast break layup for Minnesota.
So despite a solid individual quarter, where Booker had 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, the team struggled as a whole. Phoenix shot 7-of-21 from the field, good for 33%, while Minnesota stayed hot at 10-of-23.
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Suns trailed 92–86.
This was starting to feel like one of those games where every Suns possession required real work to even get a shot up, while on the other end, it was a turnstile in the paint for Minnesota. Soon, the Suns were down 10.
The slide continued. Phoenix opened the quarter 0-of-5, while the Timberwolves came out 3-of-3, added and ones, and jumped out to a 7–0 run to start the fourth.
Once again, it was the paint where the opposition set up camp, started a fire, and got comfortable.
Minnesota opened the quarter 6-of-6 from the field, and every make came at the rim. They did not miss their first shot until the 6:32 mark, living in the paint and dictating everything on that end of the floor. Phoenix put together a 9–2 run late in the quarter, getting the deficit to within nine with 1:32 left in the game. But alas, it was too much to overcome.
Up Next
Phoenix gets one night of rest as they pack their bag and head to the final stop on their six-game road trip. That stop? San Antonio, Texas.
