Suns Strokes: Teletovic’s heroics help Suns beat Timberwolves

With three minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Phoenix Suns received their postseason last rites.

What had clearly become a foregone conclusion became official with Houston’s home win against Memphis: the Suns will miss out on the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season, the longest drought in franchise history.

So the season is dead, but the Suns are still showing signs of life.

And once again, it was Mirza Teletovic to the rescue.

Coming off a double-screen, Teletovic caught the inbounds pass, took a couple of dribbles and fired a 26-foot 3-pointer that hit the bottom of the net with 1.2 seconds remaining, sending the Suns to a 107-104 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in front of a Monday night crowd of 17,480 at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

For Teletovic, it marked his second game-winning field goal of the season, preceded only by his seven-foot fadeaway jumper to beat the Bulls in Chicago on Dec. 7.

He finished with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, off the bench.

P.J. Tucker led the Suns (18-49) with 23 points, setting a new career-high. He also grabbed 12 rebounds, joinining Alex Len (11) and Tyson Chandler (11) in double figures as the Suns controlled the glass with a 57-36 advantage on the boards.

The Suns overcame a 10-point halftime deficit by outscoring the Timberwolves (21-46) 60-47 in the second half.

Devin Booker added 16 points and Chandler 14 for a Suns team that snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the second time in their last three home games.

All five Timberwolves starters scored in double figures with Zach LaVine (28) and Andrew Wiggins (22) each exceeding the 20-point mark, while Karl-Anthony Towns (17 and 10 rebounds) and Ricky Rubio (13 and 17 assists, tying a career-high) both recorded double-doubles.

THE GOOD

Playing all 12 minutes of the first quarter, Tucker stuffed the stat sheet with six points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal. He accounted for the Suns’ first four points and eight of their intial 14 on the scoreboard. Tucker shot 3-of-5, missing his only 3-point attempt. No Suns player grabbed more rebounds, while his assists total matched Knight for team-high honors in the period.

Six unanswerd second-quarter points—Booker two free throws, Jon Leuer and Chase Budinger fast-break layups—handed the Suns their largest lead of the half, 36-31, at 8:47. Booker and Leuer each scored four points in the period, but it was Chandler who had the best performance with five points (a dunk and three free throws), three rebounds and a block shot of Shabazz Muhammad.

Following a one-point first half, Len exploded for eight in the third quarter. He shot 3-of-6 plus made two free throws; the latter of which tied the game at 70 at 2:47. Even better, Len grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, giving him 10 for the game extending his double-digit rebound streak to nine straight; that’s the longest by a Sun since Marcin Gortat did so in 15 straight in 2011-12.

Six of the Suns’ 13 3-pointers came in the fourth quarter. Tucker made the first two, hitting back-to-back corner 3s; the second of which gave the Suns an 84-78 lead, their largest of the game, at 9:49. Teletovic, who has reached double figures in 15 of 17 games, was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc; helping him reach the 20-point mark for the seventh time this season and 15th of his career.

THE BAD

It took the Timberwolves, more specifically LaVine, less than a minute to erase a five-point deficit midway through the first quarter. LaVine hit a 22-foot pull-up jump shot, scored on a fast-break lay-up and nailed a 25-foot 3-pointer; all in the span of 58 seconds to give Minnesota a 19-17 lead at 4:43. LaVine made his first five field goals and finished the period with a game-high 12 points.

It was Wiggins’ turn to shine in the second quarter. He had six points and two assists during a 20-5 run that put Minnesota ahead, 51-41, at 2:04. Helping matters were the six Suns turnovers, three by Len. The Suns committed seven in the period, while Wiggins finished with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, the last field goal came on an alley-oop off an inbounds play to beat the first-half buzzer.

Two days after a 30-point performance at Golden State, Knight was held scoreless until 1:12 of the third quarter when he made a step-back 25-foot 3-pointer to pull the Suns to within two, 75-73. Knight, who made 11-of-20 shots against the Warriors, missed his first eight attempts including five from beyond the arc. He finished the period 1-of-10 from the field with five missed 3-point tries.

The final points scored in the fourth quarter by the Timberwolves belonged to Wiggins. His driving layup tied the game at 104 with 4.9 seconds to play. His 22 points came on 9-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-4 from the free throw line. This was Wiggins’ fifth consecutive game scoring 20 or more points, which is the third-longest streak of his career. LaVine, by the way, had 10 points in the period.

STAT OF THE GAME

57-36: The Suns’ 57 rebounds tied a season-high and is the team’s 15th game with 50 or more rebounds this season, their most since doing so 17 times in 2004-05; while the +21 rebound margin is their largest since going +22 in a win over Memphis at home on Feb. 27

HE SAID IT

“It is how I drew it up,” interim head coach Earl Watson said, referring to Teletovic’s game-winner. “If you draw up a play for Telly or anyone else, if it touches his hands, he’s shooting it. The play could be for him to catch it on the pin-down and swing to the other side, it’s not going to get all the way through. It’s just Telly, we love him for who he is, and it’s a part of having that guy who sometimes you might say that’s a crazy shot, but he hits big shots: Chicago, tonight, through the Florida game he hit big 3s. We love Telly.”

NOTED

Tucker recorded his seventh double-double of the season and first since Feb. 27; plus his five assists gave him his first career game with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Booker added six assists, marking the 12th time this season with 10 or more points and five or more assists, the most by a Suns rookie since Michael Finley (12) did so in 1995-96.

Timberwolves 21-year veteran forward Kevin Garnett did not play, missing his 22nd straight game because of a sore right knee he suffered Jan. 23 against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Nine of the 14 players on the Suns’ roster have rooting interests with their schools represented in the NCAA Tournament: Kentucky, Arizona, Vanderbilt, Maryland, Wisconsin and Texas.

UP NEXT

The stay at home was a brief one.

The Suns will once again head out on the road, beginning Thursday, March 17, when they visit the Utah Jazz. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

The Jazz have won the first two of four meetings this season, winning in Salt Lake City on Dec. 21 and in Phoenix on Feb. 6.

In that most recent matchup, the Suns allowed the Jazz to score the game’s first 10 points and, despite a late rally, never fully rebounded from the slow start as the visitors won 98-89 at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Rodney Hood led Utah with 15 points, while Gordon Hayward finished with 22. Rudy Gobert had 13 points and 13 rebounds, setting career-highs with nine free throw makes and 12 attempts.

Booker topped the Suns’ scoring with 18 points.

Overall, the Suns have won 12 of the last 21 meetings in the series.

Follow @CraigAZSports