The Phoenix Suns handled business Wednesday night as they beat the streaking Minnesota Timberwolves, 133-115. While the Suns wait the debut of their own big three in Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal, they still got the job done against a team that was coming into the game with a seven-game winning streak.
It was the first game for Booker as he was nursing a calf injury, but it didn’t slow him down as he scored 31 points to go with his five assists. He missed the five games prior, but was available for Wednesday’s game in the hopes it would be the aforementioned big three debut, but Beal was a late-injury add.
Booker said to the media after the game that it felt good to be back on the floor. He also mentioned how even though he was active on the bench in a coaching type of role, it’s better when he’s out there with his teammates according to ESPN.
“It’s always nice just playing,” Booker said. “I try to give my input from the bench, but it gets old after a while. I just want to get out there and compete with the team.
Another huge piece for Phoenix is star Kevin Durant who scored 31 of his own points in the win against the Timberwolves. He said post-game that he might have expected Booker to start slow because of the injury, but was impressive from the beginning.
I was expecting [Booker] to have a little wind in his lungs early on,” Durant said. “But he looked great. The pop was there, playing with pace. It’s good to have our point guard back
It seemed as if the Timberwolves didn’t have an answer for the dynamic duo of Booker and Durant. Even head coach Chris Finch spoke openly after the game and said they weren’t on point defensively.
“It was certainly one of those nights — all credit to them,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “We could never really get them contained. They made a lot of shots, but they also had a lot of comfort. I don’t think we were able to establish ourselves defensively.
The Suns had lost two straight games, but now they are back in the win column as they’re 5-6 on the season., which puts them at ninth in the Western Conference. They will face the Utah Jazz in their next game tomorrow night as a part of the NBA In-season tournament. They’re currently at 0-1 in group play after they lost to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 10.
Leave a Reply