Minnesota Timberwolves look for answers after tough loss to Phoenix Suns

* Recap: Suns 108, Timberwolves 106

Coach Tom Thibodeau, perhaps some of his Timberwolves players and a fair number of people at Target Center on Saturday seemed to blame a confusing foul/shot clock violation near the end for Minnesota’s loss to a less-than-formidable Phoenix Suns team Saturday.

There was enough confusion that a pool reporter sought out officiating crew chief Ken Maurer to learn that, yes, ref Mark Ayotte had signaled a 24-second violation – but only after assessing a foul on Wolves guard Jeff Teague an instant earlier. Teague’s foul of Isaiah Canaan on a 3-pointer with six seconds left swung the outcome, but wasn’t nearly the most damaging part of the game for the Wolves, so wrote Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic:

It doesn’t make sense that the Suns could win a game against the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference on the road without star scorer Devin Booker — a 108-106 Wolves loss that probably wins an extremely tight race for their worst defeat of the season.

It doesn’t make sense that Phoenix could turn the ball over 19 times in the first half and still trail by just eight points at the break.

It doesn’t make sense that the Timberwolves could take 23 more shots than the Suns and still lose.

It doesn’t make sense that all five Suns starters were incredible detriments to the team — T.J. Warren (-11), Marquese Chriss (-27), Tyson Chandler (-18), Josh Jackson (-21) and Tyler Ulis (-17) — and they were still in the game.

It doesn’t make sense that the Phoenix bench — recently signed Isaiah Canaan (plus-19), journeyman Troy Daniels (plus-19), Dragan Bender (plus-22), Alex Len (plus-20), Danuel House (plus-17) and Jared Dudley (plus-7 in 1 minute, 47 seconds) — outscored their Wolves counterparts 69-20.

It doesn’t make sense that the Suns owned the paint to the degree they did, a 52-31 advantage on the boards that helped neutralize their carelessness with the ball.

Fouling one jump shooter near the end wasn’t what doomed Minnesota. Fouling jump shooters repeatedly in the game, along with the failures cited above, was what undid the Wolves. No pool reporter was necessary to decipher that.

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