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.
10:25 pm: 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 started 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 pm: 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 did not play in Game 2 on 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 pm, 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 shortly before 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.
