{"id":301029,"date":"2025-11-22T07:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T07:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/301029\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T07:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T07:59:11","slug":"suns-stun-wolves-erase-8-point-deficit-in-last-minute-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/301029\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns stun Wolves, erase 8-point deficit in last-minute comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX — The Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> had an eight-point lead with less than a minute to go Friday night, talking a little smack to their opponents as a hard-fought, chippy game between Western Conference rivals came to a close.<\/p>\n

There was one problem: The Phoenix Suns<\/a> weren’t done.<\/p>\n

Backup guard Collin Gillespie<\/a> hit the go-ahead jumper with 6.4 seconds left, and the Suns rallied to stun the Timberwolves 114-113<\/a> for their seventh win in eight games. The final minute of the game was a masterclass in comeback moxie, with an unheralded group of Suns putting together a wild win.<\/p>\n

“They were talking too early and I love that, when guys get too confident,” Suns forward Dillon Brooks<\/a> said. “Once the pressure starts heating up, their eyes start getting big, they start getting scared.”<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

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Minnesota pushed ahead 113-105 after Donte DiVincenzo<\/a> hit his second free throw with 1:09 left. Phoenix brought the ball up the court and Brooks’ 3-pointer was off the mark, but Royce O’Neale<\/a> was there for the offensive rebound and putback, cutting it to 113-107 with 49.3 seconds left.<\/p>\n

A few seconds later, Gillespie stole the in-bounds pass, and Brooks found Jordan Goodwin<\/a> for a 3-pointer, slicing the lead to 113-110. There were still 43.4 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

“We’re just super competitive; winners and want to play winning basketball,” Gillespie said. “I think you saw a little of that at the end of the game. Just no quit. Fight until there’s no time left.”<\/p>\n

Brooks stole Julius Randle<\/a>‘s pass on the next possession, Goodwin followed with a quick layup and it was suddenly 113-112 with 21.4 seconds left. Edwards missed two free throws with 12.7 seconds left, setting up a final shot for the Suns.<\/p>\n

“We lost our minds,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Poor execution, turnovers, obviously, and just didn’t stay locked-in during the last 90 seconds.”<\/p>\n

Collin Gillespie’s go-ahead jumper with 6.4 seconds left capped a furious last-minute comeback in which the Suns erased an eight-point deficit to top the Wolves.\u00a0Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

By that time, Brooks and star guard Devin Booker<\/a> had fouled out for the Suns, leaving Gillespie as the team’s lead scoring option on the final possession.<\/p>\n

The third-year guard out of Villanova never hesitated, burying a contested 10-foot jumper for the 114-113 lead. Randle’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark, setting off a wild celebration as teammates mobbed Gillespie.<\/p>\n

“The person [Randle] who was talking too much had two turnovers and missed a shot,” Brooks said. “We don’t give up. Anything’s possible in this league to win games and lose games.”<\/p>\n

Picked by many pundits to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, the Suns are 10-6 and earning a reputation as a hard-nosed team that might be quite a bit better than expected.<\/p>\n

Phoenix won despite a tough game for Booker, who finished with 16 points on 4-of-18 shooting and a season-high nine turnovers.<\/p>\n

“Just tough, gritty, competitive, together and selfless; that’s what we’ve seen from this group from Day 1,” first-year coach Jordan Ott said. “Whatever it takes, whenever it takes, whoever is out there, just find a way to outscore the opponent.<\/p>\n

“These wins are big for our group and what we’re doing, but it doesn’t stop.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX — The Minnesota Timberwolves had an eight-point lead with less than a minute to go Friday night,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-301029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}