Suns at Wolves: Making Hay

Suns at Wolves
6:00 pm CST
FS North

The Wolves host the Phoenix Suns tonight at Target Center, and visit Phoenix on Tuesday, a spot in the schedule which absolutely requires two wins given the circumstances.

On the one hand, we should be confident, the Suns are bad, and will be without star rookie DeAndre Ayton tonight with an ankle injury. On the other hand, the Wolves have already managed to lose to the Suns once this season, and if we’ve learned anything, it’s to take nothing for granted.

Still, the Suns are fairly toothless, especially without Ayton, and are coming off a 20 point loss to the Hornets last night, so the Wolves have both the home court and rest advantages, and should have all the motivation they need coming off back-to-back losses to the Sixers and Spurs.

For the Wolves, matching up on the wing with the Suns relatively young and reasonably talented group will be essential—Devin Booker is their leading scorer, followed by T.J. Warren. Those two combined for 49 points in the Suns’ win over the Wolves in December. Kelly Oubre has provided a spark since coming over from the Wizards, and Mikal Bridges has had his moments as a rookie.

Still, as a team the Suns are not particularly good at anything, and the Wolves should absolutely dominate inside and on the glass, especially without Ayton available. Richaun Holmes is also out, leaving the Suns with almost no real bigs available.

The Wolves are now behind the eight ball in terms of making a playoff push. They absolutely must win both games against the Suns this week, and that starts tonight.

Expected Lineups

Suns

De’Anthony Melton
Devin Booker
Mikal Bridges
T.J. Warren
Quincy Acy

Wolves

Jeff Teague
Josh Okogie
Andrew Wiggins
Taj Gibson
Karl-Anthony Towns

Our friends over at Bright Side of the Sun have your Suns coverage.

Enjoy the game. Chat here. Go Wolves.