Follow tonight’s Wolves-Suns play-by-play here.
Star Tribune staff writer Chris Hine is in Phoenix filing live reports before, during and after Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference quarterfinal series between the Timberwolves and Suns at Footprint Center. The Wolves had a 2-0 series lead entering tonight’s game.
12:25 a.m.: Is the series over? Suns have no answer for Timberwolves
PHOENIX – After two dominant games at home, the question for the Timberwolves entering Game 3 was if they could keep the same effort on the road.
The Wolves answered that with a resounding yes as they defeated the Suns 126-109 on Friday night to take a 3-0 lead with a chance to win their first playoff series since 2004 on Sunday night in Game 4.
The Wolves led by six at halftime and again used a methodical surge in which they ground the Suns to pieces in the third quarter, when fans began to boo the home team in Footprint Center.
Several Wolves danced around foul trouble all night, but the Wolves had the depth to overcome that.
Anthony Edwards was the reason. He had a monster game and led them with 36 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Edwards bounced back from a bad shooting night in Game 2 with a 12-for-23 performance. When the Wolves needed it, Edwards was able to find his way to the basket and the free-throw line, especially as Phoenix made a last-ditch run in the fourth quarter.
Edwards finished 11-for-11 at the foul line. The Suns had no answer for him any time he wanted to get downhill and to the rim.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the decisive third-quarter with four threes, all in that quarter. He finished with 15 points.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 18 points for the Wolves. Bradley Beal led Phoenix with 28.
11:45 p.m.: Suns reeling as Wolves roll to 22-point lead after three
Nickeil Alexander-Walker once again made an impact in this series. After not scoring in the first half, Alexander-Walker went off in the third quarter for the Wolves, who lead the Suns 95-73 entering the fourth after outscoring Phoenix 36-20 in the quarter.
Alexander-Walker buried four threes in the quarter and is up to 12 points and five assists on the game. The Wolves defense held Phoenix to just 20 points in the quarter.
After Mike Conley found Naz Reid for an easy dunk near the end of the quarter, boos began to come down in Footprint Center.
Alexander-Walker came in for Jaden McDaniels after McDaniels picked up three fouls in the quarter and the Wolves were ahead 63-57. They won the rest of the quarter 32-16.
It was the third consecutive game where the Wolves got a big edge in the third quarter. Game 1 was 31-21 and Game 2 was 28-20.
10:52 p.m.: Wolves in good position at the half
The Wolves calmed down with their fouling in the second quarter and committed just three fouls, and they took a 59-53 lead over the Suns into halftime behind 16 points from Anthony Edwards.
But one of the fouls they did commit went to Karl-Anthony Towns, who picked up his third. He finished the first half with 13 minutes played.
Rudy Gobert had 11 points and eight rebounds.
Bol Bol, the 7-4 center, played some rotation minutes for the Suns for the first time in this series as the Suns went with Bol and Jusuf Nurkic on the floor for a stretch in the second quarter.
The Wolves used their size advantage to grab a 14-5 edge in second-chance points, which helped them overcome a 6-for-20 night from three-point range. They also hold a 30-16 lead in paint points.
10:25 p.m.: Wolves lead, but have four in foul trouble
Foul trouble plagued the Wolves early but they still led the Suns 34-32 after one.
Four players picked up two fouls as the Wolves committed 10 in the first quarter as Phoenix made a concerted effort to attack the rim.
The Wolves opened the game 1-for-6 but then hit their next five shots to open up a 17-8 lead and force a Phoenix timeout. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 10 first-quarter points but he sat the last few minutes of the quarter with two fouls. He joined Mike Conley, Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert, who each picked up a pair of fouls.
Eric Gordon breathed some life into a Suns team that began the night 2-for-10 with 10 first-quarter points. Phoenix shot just 7-for-19 from the field but was 14-for-15 from the foul line.
Anthony Edwards had 12 to lead the Wolves
8 p.m.: Injury updates for key ‘questionable’ players
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said forward Kyle Anderson is “good to go.” Anderson left Game 1 of the series on Saturday because of a hip pointer, and didn’t play in Game 2 Tuesday.
Suns guard Grayson Allen, who led the NBA in three-point percentage in the regular season, left both of the first two games with a sprained ankle. Suns coach Frank Vogel said Allen would be a game-time decision, but Allen is unable to go and will sit out tonight.
Both players were questionable on the injury report Thursday.
5 p.m., Shootaround update: KAT lauds Rudy’s isolation defense
One of the keys for the Timberwolves in the first two games of their NBA Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Suns has been their ability to guard Phoenix in isolation one-on-one, and that includes center Rudy Gobert.
Gobert had to fight the reputation that he is a poor isolation defender in the playoffs ever since his Utah teams came up short prior to his coming to Minnesota. But the Suns have struggled to score on Gobert, or any Wolves for that matter, when they have someone switched onto them.
During the regular season, Gobert was impressive enough to be a favorite for his fourth NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.
“All year he’s shown really bright spots of being able to guard guards at the three-point line and perimeter, and he uses his length and his feet,” Wolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns said at shootaround Friday. “He’s quicker than people give him credit for. So being able to use the God-given intangibles that he has is something that has helped him tremendously.
“He does so many things defensively, but offensively as well. But to just talk about defense, he does things that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. So thank God we’re more in the statistical era where Synergy and stuff like that can help us understand the impact he makes on our team.”
It’s also helped that the Wolves have had an effective three-headed perimeter combination that can guard straight up as well in Anthony Edwards, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jaden McDaniels, who are plus-40 in their minutes together this series.
“Someone else can come in the game, brings that intensity,” Gobert said of his teammates. “It’s tough when you face that. Obviously they are very unique players and we have a unique team but being able to, somebody get in foul trouble and there’s another guy coming in bringing the same type of intensity.”
Forward Kyle Anderson (hip pointer) went through shootaround after being listed as questionable for tonight’s game.
