In Julius Randle’s return, Timberwolves rout Suns behind Anthony Edwards' 44 points

PHOENIX – Before the Timberwolves' 116-98 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, coach Chris Finch delivered a message to the team as it got another injured player back — Julius Randle. The Wolves, who have navigated injuries since late January, are almost whole again, with just Rudy Gobert out and hopeful to return this week.

With the returning players, roles will change, minutes will decrease and shot attempts will go down for some of the players who were getting them for the last month. Finch wanted to remind the team not to let those individual agendas get in the way during an important home stretch of the season for a team fighting to make the playoffs.

“Finchy said some great things today in the meeting about just being a team, not letting anything make us dysfunctional and draw us away from each other,” guard Anthony Edwards said. “I think we took what he said and carried it over to the game.”

No sequence better encapsulated what Finch wants to see than what happened with under nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

“It felt like an AAU game,” forward Jaden McDaniels said of what happened. “Kind of just playing as you would as a kid.”

Randle made a hustle play to save a loose a ball from going out of bounds.

Moments later, Nickeil Alexander-Walker delivered a beautiful no-look pass to reward Randle with a layup. The Wolves bench erupted after that sequence.

They got even louder on the next play, when McDaniels stole the inbounds pass and scored, prompting a Phoenix timeout and a full-blown celebration from the bench.

“Irrespective of who, as we get guys back, playing time, rotation, roles, all that kind of stuff is going to continue to change,” Finch said. “It might be different night to night. We can’t worry about it now, and it’s great to have the energy from the bench of guys who may or may not have been in the game.”

Edwards, back from his one-game suspension for receiving 16 technical fouls this season, looked as if he were going to knock over McDaniels with how hard he embraced him.

“He’s strong as hell. I couldn’t get away, for real,” McDaniels said. “But it’s been other times where he hurt my stomach.”

All good on a night like Sunday, when the Wolves (33-29) beat the Suns (28-33) for the seventh straight time between last postseason and this regular season.

“I’m not gonna jinx ourselves, but we just got their number now I guess, since last year,” McDaniels said.

BOXSCORE: Wolves 116, Phoenix 98

NBA standings

Specifically, Edwards seems to have their number. He erupted for 44 points, five rebounds and seven assists. He ignited the Wolves after a cold-shooting first half (39%) and put his team firmly in control the rest of the night. With six threes Sunday night, Edwards became the Wolves' single-season leader in made threes, passing Malik Beasley. He had help from Donte DiVincenzo, who buried a bunch of threes of his own, eight in all, on his way to 24 points. He also sparked the Wolves with five steals, three in the third quarter. DiVincenzo said that fourth-quarter sequence was the “perfect play” for what this team needed at this moment.

“Coming off being challenged by coach, it was a great thing to experience together right after a tough two losses. … We have all the pieces to do that,” DiVincenzo said. “Throughout the whole game, we just stayed together. We have it in us. It’s not like we don’t have that in us and we’re just getting by on talent.”

Talent certainly helps, though, especially when those talented individuals are healthy and available to play. Take Randle, who seemed to pick up where he left off before his groin injury, when he was playing some of his best basketball with the Wolves. He finished with 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field. Edwards said a fatigued Randle came over to him and told him to carry the Wolves the rest of the way because he was tired.

“My wind, after the first few minutes, felt good,” Randle said. “It was more my legs. You just can’t simulate that, but overall I felt great.”

Then there was Edwards, back from his suspension. He had to watch on TV as the Wolves lost at lowly Utah on Friday night without him. For every two technical fouls he receives the rest of the season, he will be suspended another game.

“Just be a little more civilized out there, man. Understand the refs are going to make mistakes,” Edwards said. “Just being able to go talk to them without cussing at them is something I’m going to try to do.”

After Edwards did a good job to keep his emotions in check early, he admitted it was “hard” in the fourth quarter. On one play, he held out his arms after he believed Suns guard Devin Booker fouled him. He held out his arms as play continued behind him. You could see Finch and the bench pleading with Edwards to get back. Gobert, bad back and all, even leaped out of his seat.

Then late in the game, DiVincenzo tried to set up Edwards for a bounce-pass alley-oop, and Suns guard Bradley Beal pushed him, causing Edwards to fall. Officials missed the foul and only called a flagrant foul-1 on Beal when Finch challenged the play. Edwards was heated, and his teammates did all they could to hold him back from getting another technical.

“They had to review the foul,” Edwards said. “It’s crazy.”

But Edwards’ technical foul punch card went unchecked, the Wolves got another important player back, and they got a win to stay in a crowded mix of five teams jockeying for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference to avoid the play-in tournament. That meeting with Finch set the tone for Sunday, just as it did when Finch had a fiery film session before a victory at Phoenix in January. Can the Wolves carry it over?

“Everything he said, he was super right,” Edwards said. “We responded. Big shoutout to him for doing that today.”