MINNEAPOLIS — There's a saying in the NBA that whether you win or lose isn't always about who you play, it's when you play them.
The Timberwolves could not have asked to get the Suns at a worse time for Phoenix.
The Wolves cruised, perhaps a little too much, in a 121-116 victory against a depleted Suns team that was without several contributors, including Chris Paul and Devin Booker. The Wolves took care of the remnants, even if Phoenix did close a 24-point Wolves lead to 115-109 with 43.1 seconds remaining. But overall, the Wolves were able to rebound from a disastrous loss to Detroit and have now won five of their past six games.
The Wolves have found an offensive rhythm the last few weeks and they turned that into a 52% performance Friday. Anthony Edwards again played through what coach Chris Finch said is a deep bruise in Edwards' hip to score 31 points. D'Angelo Russell had 17 points while Taurean Prince scored 16 on 7-of-12 shooting off the bench.
Rudy Gobert took only one shot and had four points but helped provide defense on DeAndre Ayton, who was just 5 for 18 from the field for 11 points. Gobert also grabbed 12 rebounds.
The Wolves outscored Phoenix 64 to 44 in the paint and forced 19 Suns turnovers. The Wolves led by as much as 17 in the first half and opened it up to 24 in the fourth before getting careless on the defensive end down the stretch.
Damion Lee led Phoenix with 28 points while former Wolves players Josh Okogie and Dario Saric had seven and five points, respectively.
