Suns capitalize after Timberwolves inexplicably defend with only 4 players

You never know what you’re going to see in the NBA on a night-to-night basis.

On Wednesday night, that was the case and then some for a Phoenix Suns offensive possession in Minnesota against the Timberwolves. We saw a power play in basketball.

After T-Wolves guard Jaylen Nowell was fouled and converted on a shot to go to the free-throw line for an and-one in the second quarter, forward Taurean Prince checked out of the game and went to the bench.

To be clear, while the television broadcast didn’t show this, there was no buzzer that went off to indicate there was a sub coming in for him. That was Minnesota guard D’Angelo Russell, who inexplicably stayed at the scorer’s table when Prince sat down and Nowell sank the free throw.

This is an all-timer! Russell not realizing he's supposed to be on the court, Suns play a possession 5-on-4, make a 3-pointer. #Timberwolves pic.twitter.com/3hrT51FGKO

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) November 10, 2022

With the Suns bringing the ball down, they were the ones who immediately saw what was up since they had the view to see it was 5-on-4. It took the Timberwolves a second, and you can see their bench starting to freak out. Phoenix was able to get an open 3 and an offensive rebound before Russell ran onto the floor.

By then, Suns forward Torrey Craig drained an open 3 as Russell jogged back into the picture.

The Timberwolves’ brainfart of epic magnitude was not just on that play, as they were unorganized all game long and were booed off the floor by their fans at halftime after the Suns led by 18.

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