By JOSE M. ROMERO
The Associated Press
PHOENIX, Arizona – Brandon Knight rebounded from a one-point outing in his last game to make seven 3-pointers and score 25 points, helping the Phoenix Suns beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 108-101 on Sunday.
Knight scored nine of his points in the fourth quarter, all on 3s.
The Timberwolves committed 24 turnovers, including nine in the third quarter, which helped the Suns get out in transition and take control of the game for good. Phoenix scored 43 points off turnovers for the game.
Zach LaVine led the Wolves with 28 points and Kevin Martin added 19. The Suns didn’t score for more than 4 minutes during the fourth quarter as Minnesota cut into a 19-point lead, but P.J. Tucker’s 3-pointer at the 7:54 mark followed by Eric Bledsoe’s steal and dunk gave Phoenix a 90-75 lead.
Minnesota got the lead down to 104-99 on LaVine’s 3 with 35 seconds left, but never got closer.
Bledsoe had 23 points with nine assists, Alex Len 18 had points and Jon Leuer score 12 points for the Suns, who have won five of their last six games against the Wolves.
Minnesota led for much of the first quarter until Knight’s 3-point- er with 1:25 to play gave the Suns a 23-21 lead. The Wolves had two impressive dunks in the opening quarter, one for Gorgui Dieng off a no-look bounce pass from Ricky Rubio and the other by LaVine, last season’s NBA All-Star Weekend dunk champion.
Len had 10 of his points and made eight free throws in the first quarter for the Suns. But the Timberwolves opened the second quarter ahead 27-25.
Guard Ronnie Price came off the bench for a transition dunk off Bledsoe’s steal, and Price’s 3 with 3:16 to play gave Phoenix a 48-41 lead over Minnesota.
The Wolves trailed by as few as five points in the third quarter, but the Suns surged to a 75-61 lead after a 12-3 run that featured easy dunks for Knight and Len and a double lob from Knight to Bledsoe to Leuer at the 4:12 mark.
Phoenix built a lead of 85-66 after three quarters.
