There is no better remedy for the Timberwolves than a matchup with Phoenix. Three days ago, Minnesota was blitzed by the Pacers in Indiana for its third loss in four games, and the hopes of evading the play-in tournament by securing a top six seed in the West was dwindling. Phoenix entered Friday’ s bout at Target Center as a winner of four of its previous five games. The Suns need every win they can accrue simply to pass Dallas in the race for the conference’s No. 10 seed and, thus, the final play-in spot. The Suns had motivation and momentum. And none of that seems to matter when they meet the Wolves on the floor. As has been the case in each of the previous seven meetings between these two teams prior to Friday’s tilt, Minnesota again beat Phoenix. And, per usual, it did so convincingly. Phoenix again proved to have no answer for Minnesota’s defensive physicality nor offensive firepower as the Wolves cruised to a 124-109 victory. “There’s also an incredible amount of respect that we have because of those guys … what they’ve accomplished, who’s on their roster,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “We play these teams in the playoffs, you get to know them so well, some bad blood often comes in, and it becomes a little bit more personal.” Minnesota (42-32) scored 14 of the game’s first 18 points and never really looked back. The Wolves led by 12 at the break and Phoenix never even threatened to move within single digits from there. Devin Booker struggled mightily, not scoring his first points of the night until late in the third quarter. Kevin Durant went 7 for 19 from the field. Even the buckets the Suns (35-39) did generate looked incredibly difficult. The opposite was true for Minnesota, who had eight players score at least eight points, including six guys reaching double figures. Julius Randle had 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds to lead the way, while Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Minnesota shot 53% from the floor and 49% from 3-point range, even on a night when it didn’t have Anthony Edwards for a quarter. Edwards missed the second frame after exiting the floor with a towel pressed against his face after seemingly getting poked in the eye. But the guard emerged from the tunnel to cheers for the team’s halftime warmups and scored 17 points over the final two frames. Mike Conley said he was “super proud” of the way Minnesota came out Friday, but he expected it after the Wolves’ intense practices this week and a few nights of sleep in their own beds. “Having time to get our legs and our minds right for who we need to be moving forward,” Conley said. “Obviously, we played our defense the way we wanted to play it to start the game and that kind of set the table for how we need to play on both ends.” But now the challenge for Minnesota is to bottle it. The Wolves have repeatedly thrashed the likes of Denver and Phoenix this season, and looked like title contenders in the process. But that hasn’t always translated to other opponents. The Wolves host Detroit on Sunday, and if they don’t carry the same mentality in that game, they’ll likely get beat. “We gotta have that level of urgency every night because the level of talent is everywhere in this league. I think by now we should have learned the lesson that when we don’t, regardless of who we play, we hurt ourselves,” Gobert said. “We are our biggest opponent. We get a little complacent. When people start saying we’re good and when the odds are with us, that’s when we’re not as good. “We play at our peak when we have a level of almost fear. A little bit of fear, a little bit of urgency, that survival instinct. When we play with that, we are really, really good. There’s no one that we cannot beat when we play that way. It’s about finding a way to have that every night. I think now we should have that. Obviously we have eight games left. Every game is like a Play-In game for us, in a way. So we have to bring that edge every night.” Related Articles Wolves searching for defensive urgency: ‘Our playoff lives are at stake’ Timberwolves waxed by Pacers for third loss in four games ‘Sometimes, you gotta do the human thing’: Joe Ingles gets a special start as Wolves down depleted Pelicans Conley’s Corner: Health is confidence Zion Williamson blitzes Minnesota as Timberwolves drop second straight ...read more read less