The Minnesota Timberwolves aim to rebound from a horrific collapse when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Monday night.
The Timberwolves led Phoenix by eight with 1:09 left on Friday before the Suns finished the game with a decisive 9-0 run.
The 114-113 loss was only the third in 11 games for Minnesota, but the circumstances made it feel twice as painful.
“We lost our minds,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said afterward. “Poor execution, turnovers, obviously, and didn’t stay locked in for the last 90 seconds.”
Minnesota committed turnovers on three straight possessions — one by Anthony Edwards and two by Julius Randle — as the Suns moved within one.
Edwards missed two free throws with 12.7 seconds remaining, allowing Collin Gillespie of the Suns to score the go-ahead basket with 6.4 seconds left.
Randle missed a last-second 3-pointer for the Timberwolves.
Edwards and Randle each committed five turnovers and Minnesota had 22 as a team.
Edwards had trouble when he was double-teamed, but Finch said Phoenix using that defensive tactic wasn’t a surprise.
“I thought he made some good reads,” Finch said of Edwards. “We prepare for it all the time.”
Edwards matched his season high of 41 points and was 14 of 24 from the field, including 5 of 11 from 3-point range.
He broke out of a long-distance slump after making just 3 of 30 over the previous four games.
The contest against the Kings is the second of a three-game road trip. The Timberwolves visit the NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
Minnesota is 2-0 against Sacramento this season. The Timberwolves achieved their highest point total of the season with a 144-117 road victory on Nov. 9. Five days later, Minnesota recorded a 124-110 home win in NBA Cup West Group A play.
The Kings are coming off a rare high after rallying from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit to post a 128-123 road victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.
That ended an eight-game losing streak. Sacramento was outscored by an average of 23.4 points during that run and was crushed 137-96 by the host Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday.
“In our league, wins are hard to come by,” Kings coach Doug Christie said. “So we definitely needed it. I think even more importantly, it was necessary to see the process that we’ve shown in flashes, when done for a whole game, the byproduct of that is winning. This is a complete team win.”
Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder each scored 21 points for the Kings against the Nuggets. Keegan Murray added 19 and DeMar DeRozan had 17.
Westbrook had 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the fourth quarter against Denver, the team he played with last season.
“One thing we talked about, we lost by a lot of points (Thursday), but a loss is a loss,” Westbrook said. “It’s how you respond. Now, how you respond is the most important thing. I thought we did a hell of a job just responding, being together, it was a team win.”
Murray made three 3-pointers in his second game of the season after undergoing offseason surgery on his left thumb.
“I feel like we had a good game plan going in,” Murray said. “I feel like we executed it pretty well. So, for us, it’s just trying to stick with it, competing on both ends of the floor. Especially in the second half, I thought we played really well on the defensive end and got stops when we needed to and made buckets when we needed to.”
–Field Level Media
