Help arrives just in time for Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards in Timberwolves win

PHOENIX — For about three quarters the Timberwolves had been the Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards show in their 123-119 victory over the Suns.

It was quite an entertaining show, considering Towns went for 41 points and Edwards went for 42. But it was still incomplete as the Wolves were down 15 in the third quarter.

Then help finally came to the rescue. First, it came in the form of Juancho Hernangomez, who scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half while Naz Reid added 10. That helped the Wolves chip away at the large deficit toward the end of the third and only down 91-83 instead of double digits.

It was Hernangomez who then hit a key three with 6 minutes, 11 seconds remaining to pull the Wolves within three. He would then ice the game with a dunk with 4.7 seconds left.

Players not named Edwards and Towns accounted for only 14 of the Wolves' field goals and the bench was just 2-for-14 from the floor at the half.

Edwards said he had some advice recently for Hernangomez.

"Juancho can shoot … the hell out the ball," Edwards said. "I tell Juancho, 'If you catch the ball open and don't shoot it, you losing money."

Towns said the unsung hero of the night was Josh Okogie, who helped hold Devin Booker (35 points) to just one in the fourth quarter.

"That's a hell of a task he took on and he excelled with flying colors," Towns said. "I think we got to give him a lot of credit the way he was able to take an All-Star and one of the best scorers in this league right now and really lock him down in the fourth quarter. That's something that needs to be given shine."

It has been a tough year at times for both for various reasons — Hernangomez battled with COVID and it kept him out for a while Okogie struggled offensively earlier in the season. Okogie only took one shot Thursday, but did what he does best in defending.

"JO's also always been a professional," Towns said. "He's always going to come and bring his best, his tenacity on defense. But Juancho, him working his tail off to whenever the opportunity rises up for him to have to make a play or do anything, he was going to be ready. Even before the game he was just talking about how he's so excited to be in the gym and keep working on his game, tonight we needed him in a big way and he was ready."