The Philippine Online Chronicles

When you combine the league’s best offense against the league’s worst defense, what you’ll get is a fast-paced game with a whole lot of scoring.

That’s exactly what happened on Tuesday when the Suns beat the skidding Timberwolves, 152-114 in Phoenix. It was the highest-scoring game recorded this season.

Jason Richardson paced the Suns with 27 points, which included nailing six three-pointers. Amar’e Stoudemire meanwhile chipped in 25 big ones in 27 minutes. And towards the end of the game, the Suns’ starters simply watched from the sidelines as their bench players finished off the overmatched Timberwolves.

Showing incredible progress was the Suns’ second-stringer Lou Amundson who scored a career-high 20 points on top of 10 rebounds. Point guard Steve Nash had a game-high 14 assists while contributing 14 points as well.

For the Timberwolves, Corey Brewer led all scorers with 21 points. Ryan Gomes also had a solid game as he scored 18 points. Though there were five players who reached double figures for the Timberwolves, their lack of defense was their downfall against the Suns’ all-offense style.

The loss was the Timberwolves’ 10th straight and their 16th out of their last 17 games. They also set a franchise record for the most points allowed in one game.

This win for the Suns meanwhile puts them half a game ahead of the surging San Antonio Spurs for the 6th seed in the Western Conference playoff race. It also makes everything interesting because they’re now just half a game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and 1 ½ games behind the Utah Jazz. It’s also the team’s 7th win out of the last 10 games.

In the first half, the Suns were simply too much for the Timberwolves who didn’t display a lot of effort on the defensive end. At the end of the half, the Suns have already built a commanding 79-61 lead, courtesy of their scorching-hot 67 percent shooting from the field.

Richardson and Nash made three triples before the half ended. Johnny Flynn’s answer was a meek reply that saw him draining a baseline jumper before the buzzer sounded.

At the start of the second half, the Suns were firing in all cylinders as they built a 29-point lead that eventually reached 41. All throughout the game, the Suns shot 56 percent from the floor while hitting 15 of 31 three-point attempts.

This isn’t the first time that the Timberwolves have been overwhelmed this year. On November 9, they gave up 146 points to the Warriors in a 41-point blow out loss.

After the game, Suns coach Alvin Gentry said that this game is perfect to rest the starters for a tough and physical game against the Utah Jazz tomorrow.

Stoudemire added that it was fun when all the starters were able to rest in the final quarter.

Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis stated that games like this will surely happen if his team doesn’t start playing defense. He further added that the Timberwolves are not making the effort, the way the Suns did.

Notes:

Brazilian shooting guard Leandro Barbosa finally played for the Suns after missing 23 games. He scored seven points in 14 minutes of play. Barbosa missed 23 games for the Suns after undergoing a surgery to remove a cyst in his right wrist.

This win spells the Suns’ 6th straight winning season.

The Timberwolves have given up 120 points or more in 14 games this year.