Minnesota Timberwolves forward Anthony Edwards (1) drives around Phoenix Suns forward Jae Crowder (99) and center Deandre Ayton (22) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, March 18, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
PHOENIX — Nearly every time the Phoenix Suns’ opposition is brought up to Monty Williams, he will often say when asked about an inferior team that the league is too talented for them to take any team lightly.
If he needed bulletin board material for that saying, Thursday night was it. The Minnesota Timberwolves entered the night an NBA-worst 9-31 yet beat the Phoenix Suns 123-119.
Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 41 points on 15-of-24 shooting and rookie No. 1 overall pick Anthony Edwards set a new career-high with a game-high 42.
Williams was almost only talking about himself after the game and took all the blame.
“Just losing a game like that — I just think the turnovers to start the game, our gameplan discipline was not where it needed to be, but all of that is on me,” he said. “I did not have our guys ready to play tonight mentally, schematically, in every area. I did not have us ready to play. That’s squarely on me.”
Williams also went on to say that he did not make the adjustments required on Edwards and Towns.
Despite those two nuclear performances for the Timberwolves, they were merely hanging around in the game and far from controlling it.
The game’s shape never really solidified throughout. It was tied through one quarter, mostly because Phoenix committed 10 turnovers. By then, Edwards and Towns had gotten cozy and found a rhythm.
On the other end, Booker had the juice almost everyone else was lacking from the standpoint of individual offense. He scored 34 points through three quarters.
The lack of firepower from the Suns and inability to stop those two, though, kept Minnesota in the game for far longer than you’d expect. The Suns pulled away in the mid-third quarter to go up 15 via nine third quarter points from Booker, but the Timberwolves crawled back to make it a seven-point game later in the quarter.
They’d stay in the game the rest of the way.
Phoenix was up nine with 8:45 to go, but allowed it to get to a three-point game at the 6:11 mark. That’s where Edwards and Towns took over.
Edwards was getting to the line at will. He was blowing by Chris Paul or Mikal Bridges with or without screens and took advantage of a whistle that was calling contact around the rim.
Minnesota on the night attempted 35 free throws, which speaks to one of the Suns’ weaknesses defensively of denying dribble penetration. Edwards converted on two and-1s during the closing stretch and had 13 attempts from the foul stripe as a whole.
The Timberwolves’ next five baskets and three trips to the foul line after that 6:11 mark all came in actions involving Suns third-year center Deandre Ayton, who was back for crunch-time minutes for the first time in four games, and some of why he was missing prior showed on Thursday.
Towns was in almost every play Minnesota ran late, as you’d expect, both in getting him involved and attacking Ayton.
Ayton’s coverage on pick-and-pops with Towns was all over the place, sometimes leaving Towns for an open 3 and forgetting he’s on a stretch big. With matchups against the Dallas Mavericks’ Kristaps Porzingis this year, there was a similar situation where it seemed to mess with him a bit being on a shooter. Whether it was a botched switch or what, the results were killing the Suns at times.
Ayton got his fifth foul trying to get through a Ricky Rubio screen, admittedly something that Towns forces other bigs to do that they’re not used to. That sent Rubio to the line for free throws with 1:47 left and put Minnesota up three.
Chris Paul was visibly frustrated.
After Paul hit a signature midrange jumper, Towns got Ayton isolated on the left wing and Ayton picked up a bad sixth foul for reaching out at Towns as he drove, an easy call for an official.
Towns made both free throws and Ayton’s night was done. He had 14 points and seven rebounds, and while the loss was not all on him, his poor defensive performance was what stood out the most when the game mattered.
Speaking of that, the game should have been cemented far before that, and even in the fourth quarter. Bridges hit a pair of 3s early in the last period and Paul followed up with one of his own for that was just before that aforementioned six-point edge.
But after that 3, the Suns (26-13) couldn’t get a stop. Minnesota would have scored on six straight possessions in crunch time had Edwards converted on either free throw he took with 3:15 left.
After Towns’ free throws, Paul and Booker both missed decent looks with the Suns down three and four, respectively.
Jae Crowder rebounded Booker’s miss and scored to make it a two-point game with 29 seconds left, and down the other way, Edwards once again earned a call that was the right one and got him to the foul line. He only made one of two, giving the Suns a chance down three at 8.3 seconds remaining.
But on the inbounds pass, the Timberwolves fouled Dario Saric, who was setting up near the elbow for what looked like a Paul 3 in the corner. Williams described that play design as “horrible,” seemingly because it gave Minnesota a chance to foul.
Williams then made the decision to have Saric intentionally miss the second free throw after he made the first to cut the deficit back down to two. The Suns had a set play where it looked like the plan was for Saric to miss the free throw to the right side, where Paul was creating space and Kaminsky came from the other side to grab the ball.
Saric put the ball in the right spot but the play didn’t work. Again, Williams took that on himself, saying it was something they should have prepped more in practice, that it was not executed properly and that it was his fault for that.
With the Suns down two at six seconds left and needing to foul on the inbounds, Minnesota’s Juancho Hernangomez got a free dunk to effectively end the game, a microcosm of the Suns’ night.
Booker only had one of his 35 points in the fourth quarter. He also manufactured five of the Suns’ 22 turnovers.
Paul finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Bridges was excellent with 14 points, five rebounds and tied a career high of eight assists. He was the Suns’ best player, making key plays on both ends all night and the majority of Edwards’ scoring barrage was not with Bridges on him.
It was the rarest of nights because it was one in which Saric did not play well. He shot 3-of-8 for eight points and grabbed eight rebounds. Safe to say he’s earned one of those.
Ultimately, the loss boils down to a lack of execution. It was clear which team was spiraling as the game got down to one possession halfway through the fourth quarter. One team felt like it was scrambling, and it was not the 9-31 squad.
That’s why it wasn’t surprising to hear Williams put the loss on himself.
He doesn’t deserve full blame as he suggests, but there’s certainly a deserved amount that should go his way, and those types of losses are the scariest when projecting what type of impact his team can make in the postseason.
“The only person I can look at is myself,” he said. “When I look at the stat sheet and I’m just thinking about what happened tonight, that’s on me.”
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