Grayson Allen recorded 23 points and eight rebounds and the Phoenix Suns never trailed while notching a 97-87 victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Kevin Durant added 22 points, six rebounds and six assists for Phoenix (46-31), which has won 11 of its past 16 games.
Bradley Beal added 14 points while Devin Booker registered 13 points and 13 assists for the Suns. Jusuf Nurkic contributed 11 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and three steals for Phoenix.
Anthony Edwards had 17 points and eight rebounds for Minnesota (53-24), which lost for just the third in 12 games. Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 13 points for the Timberwolves, who fell into a first-place tie in the Western Conference with the idle Denver Nuggets.
Phoenix resides in sixth place in the West and currently holds the final automatic playoff spot. The Suns are one game ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans, whom they host on Sunday.
The Suns shot 43.4 percent from the field, including 9 of 26 (34.6 percent) from 3-point range.
Minnesota made 38.8 percent of its shots and was 10 of 29 (34.5 percent) from behind the arc while establishing a season low for points.
The Timberwolves crept within 79-66 on a basket by Alexander-Walker with 9:39 remaining. A short time later, Durant scored four points during a 6-0 push as Phoenix increased its lead to 88-68 with 6:44 left.
Booker drained a 30-foot 3-pointer to push the advantage to 94-72 with 4:03 left.
Allen’s trey pushed the margin to a game-high 23 points before the Timberwolves scored the game’s final 13 points.
The Suns scored the first 15 points of the game with Minnesota finally getting two free throws from Mike Conley with 7:35 left in the first quarter. Phoenix led 32-20 at the end of the period.
The Suns went up 39-20 on Allen’s basket with 8:19 left in the first half and were ahead 57-41 at the break. Durant led Phoenix with 14 points in the half while Edwards tallied 13 before intermission for the Timberwolves.
Nurkic’s basket gave the Suns a 64-43 advantage with 9:22 left in the third quarter. Minnesota cut its deficit to 77-61 entering the final stanza.
–Field Level Media
