Timberwolves blow out Suns behind balanced offensive effort

The Minnesota Timberwolves have just appeared to have the Phoenix Suns' number the past couple seasons, and that story was no different in Minnesota's blowout 124-109 victory Friday night at a sold-out Target Center in Minneapolis.

Julius Randle got the Wolves (42-32) rolling in the first quarter, scoring 12 of his game-high 25 points in the opening frame, and Minnesota quickly built a double-digit lead. While the Suns (35-39) cut their deficit to six by the end of the quarter, the Wolves pushed it back to 12 by halftime and completely put the game away with an 8-2 start to the third.

In addition to his game-high 25 points, Randle also recorded eight assists and six rebounds.

The Suns were unable to contain Rudy Gobert on the glass or in the pick-and-roll as he got layup after layup and dunk after dunk on his way to 17 points and 13 rebounds. Six Wolves players finished in double figures; Minnesota assisted on 31 of its 47 made field goals and shot 53% from the field and 49% from 3-point range in a balanced offensive effort.

Anthony Edwards exited the game during the first quarter after taking an inadvertent elbow to the face from Kevin Durant. Edwards went to the floor and remained there for a while and left to the locker room with a towel covering his face. But Edwards returned after halftime during the Wolves' run. He finished with 20 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Durant finished with a team-high 23 points on just 7-for-19 shooting. Collin Gillespie added 22 points.

Devin Booker was held to just 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting.

Jaden McDaniels added 16 points for the Wolves, while Donte DiVincenzo had 13 off the bench. Mike Conley scored 13.

The Wolves return to action Sunday when they host the Detroit Pistons for a 6 p.m. tipoff.

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