Suns 108, Timberwolves 101
PHOENIX -- Guard Brandon Knight rebounded from his worst game of the season to hit seven 3-pointer and scored a team-high 25 points and the Phoenix Suns held on to a 108-101 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
Knight missed all 12 shots and all eight 3-pointers for one point in 33 minutes in a 106-96 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.
Guard Eric Bledsoe had 23 points and nine assists and center Alex Len added 18 points and seven rebounds for the Suns, who forced 25 Minnesota turnovers and turned them into 43 points.
Jon Leuer added 12 points for the Suns (11-14), who beat the Timberwolves in five of the last six meetings. Phoenix outscored Minnesota 60-39 in the second and third quarters to break open the game.
Zach LaVine had 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter for Minnesota, who cut a 21-point deficit to seven points at 96-89 on Damjan Rudez's third 3-pointer with 4:19 left. But Knight answered with his sixth and seventh 3-pointers of the game to cut off the rally.
Minnesota Kevin Martin added 19 points and Andrew Wiggins had 13 for the Timberwolves (9-14), who got back to 104-99 in the final minute but ran out of time and lost for the sixth time in the last seven games.
The first half featured 32 fouls, 41 free throws and some sluggish basketball.
Minnesota led by as many as six points in the first quarter, paced by seven points from Martin.
Len and Knight combined for 19 of Phoenix's first 23 points and the Suns used a 14-7 run late in the period to go up 23-21 on a Knight 3-pointer with 1:25 left. Minnesota led 27-25 at the quarter.
In the second quarter, the Suns shot 55 percent from the field, forced nine turnovers and committed only two themselves. Bledsoe had eight points in the quarter and 3-pointers by Knight and guard Ronnie Price during a run of nine straight points gave Phoenix its biggest lead at 51-41.
Martin had seven more points in the second quarter and his two free throws with 3.8 seconds left cut the Phoenix lead to 55-49 at the half.
Leuer had 10 points in the third quarter as the Suns stretched their lead to as many as 21 at 85-66 before some tense moments down the stretch.
NOTES: Suns C Tyson Chandler returned to the lineup after missing eight games with a hamstring strain. He came off the bench for starter Alex Len. ... Wolves F Kevin Garnett has the two highest scoring games of his career against the Suns. He had a career-best 47 points on Jan. 4, 2005, and 44 points on Jan. 29, 2007, both in Minnesota. ... Suns G Eric Bledsoe (22.3 points, 6.3 assists) and G Brandon Knight (20.5 points, 5.4 assists) are two of 10 players in the league currently averaging at least 20 points and five assists a game, and the only teammates in that group. ... Suns coach Jeff Hornacek, on first-round pick Devin Booker, who is 17-for-23 (74 percent) from 3-point range this season, including the last eight in a row: "He's a really good shooter and he's not taking bad ones. Some guys think they can make anything and that's when percentages drop. Devin is doing the right thing." ... Suns F Mirza Teletovic made 29 3-pointers in the last eight games before Sunday. Only Stephen Curry (37) has more over that span, and Klay Thompson also has 29.