WASHINGTON (AFP) — A balanced scoring attack helped Phoenix outlast Minnesota, 108-105, on Monday despite a 40-point National Basketball Association (NBA) performance by Anthony Edwards while San Antonio held off New Orleans, 135-132.
Phoenix, missing top scorer Devin Booker due to a groin injury, improved to 14-10 by snapping the Timberwolves’ five-game win streak with Mark Williams scoring 22 points to top six double-digit scorers for the Suns.
The Spurs, still without French star Victor Wembanyama due to a left calf strain that has caused him to miss 11 games, got 24 points from Harrison Barnes and 22 from reserve Dylan Harper to defeat the host Pelicans.
The Suns (14-10) and Spurs (16-7) won their final tune-ups ahead of NBA Cup quarterfinal games on Wednesday, with San Antonio at the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix at Oklahoma City, where the host Thunder, an NBA-best 23-1, will try to stretch their 15-game overall win streak.
The NBA Cup quarterfinals begin on Tuesday with Miami at Orlando and New York at Toronto.
At Phoenix, the Suns also had 19 points from Collin Gillespie and 18 from Dillon Brooks, who was nagged by a sore left Achilles tendon.
An inside shot by Edwards with 8.9 seconds remaining lifted Minnesota (15-9) within 106-105 but Gillespie hit two free throws with 6.3 seconds to play and Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels missed a tying three-point shot to seal the T-Wolves’ fate.
“We’re a resilient bunch,” Brooks said.