{"id":665153,"date":"2026-03-18T16:36:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/665153\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:36:55","slug":"wolves-vs-suns-nba-final-score-julius-randle-scores-crucial-32-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/665153\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolves vs Suns NBA Final Score: Julius Randle Scores Crucial 32 Points"},"content":{"rendered":"

They made you sweat a little bit for it, didn\u2019t they?<\/p>\n

The Phoenix Suns came into Target Center on the tail end of a back-to-back, playing in Boston and losing to the Celtics the night before. Making things more intriguing was the Minnesota Timberwolves\u2019 relation in the standings to Phoenix. Separated by just two games, a loss would creep the Wolves closer to play-in territory in the middle of a rocky stretch.<\/p>\n

Even with Anthony Edwards out for the Wolves, his squad was still 3.5-point favorites.<\/p>\n

One of the most durable players in the league, Edwards\u2019 timetable was revealed Tuesday afternoon<\/a> as a re-evaluation in 1-2 weeks. Without their heartbeat, a source of energy and production was going to need to reveal itself. Early on in the game, that source was nonexistent.<\/p>\n

Blitzing pick and rolls lazily and leaving the rolling big wide open, oftentimes reserve big Oso Ighodaro. Ighodaro is averaging just under 5 points per game this season. He started out the game 5-6 from the field and paired it with 10 points. He wasn\u2019t doing anything outside of the norm; simply setting screens and rolling hard.<\/p>\n

More to Ighodaro\u2019s big start was a Wolves team that seemed lost without their best player, standing in a circle pointing at each other in trying to figure out who would inevitably set the tone.<\/p>\n

Not only did Hyland get his jumper working early, but he also did his part in instilling pace into the Wolves\u2019 offense, making it synonymous with rhythm and allowing the Wolves to ease into the game offensively. Though the Suns held a near double-digit lead for much of the first half, the home team was able to pull it back down and strolled into halftime with a one-point lead.<\/p>\n

Notable adjustments were made on the hard roller Phoenix was sending to the basket. Rudy Gobert stayed down in coverage defensively, and it forced the Suns, specifically Jalen Green, to hoist shots. Green finished the game 3-17 from the field.<\/p>\n

Pair an increase in defensive involvement from Minnesota with a Julius Randle second-half surge and the drag race down the floor that Hyland and Ayo Dosunmu created, it was a night that came up aces for the Wolves after a less-than-ideal start.<\/p>\n

\"MINNEAPOLIS,<\/a><\/p>\n

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – MARCH 17: Julius Randle #30 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates his dunk against the Phoenix Suns in the fourth quarter at Target Center on March 17, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated the Suns 116-104. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by David Berding\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle had been going through another awkward stretch on the court.<\/p>\n

Over their last six games together, they carry a -4.0 net rating. Uncharacteristic, yes, but the product on the court was much worse than what the net rating simply gives you.<\/p>\n

Prone to falling into your-turn, my-turn offense, where one starts taking shots when they feel like the other isn\u2019t passing as much, therefore taking the flow out of the offense, was starting to rear its head.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s never ideal when your best player goes down and needs to miss time, but in this situation, it might be beneficial for Randle to take the reins to get his confidence back for Edwards\u2019 return and a playoff push. Heading into the Oklahoma City game, Randle had hit on just 27 percent of his threes since the new year. Over the last two games, Randle is shooting 62 percent.<\/p>\n

But according to Head Coach Chris Finch, it\u2019s not the shot that he\u2019s seen the biggest sign of improvement for Randle over the last couple of games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis decisiveness,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ball is finding him earlier in the offense, and I think he\u2019s also trusting the next play a little more, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randle said after the game that not much changes with Edwards not in the lineup. It\u2019s hard to imagine that being the case. Randle has played extremely free over the last two games, and a tough third quarter from Edwards in Oklahoma City took the rhythm out of the offense when he had the hot hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless, I gotta be aggressive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to sound like this is at all a slight on Ant. But sometimes, when that production gets taken out of the lineup in a group of talented players, it can force new solutions to arise, and perhaps that production can be replaced in the aggregate by good ball movement and free-flowing offense that Edwards can work to ingratiate upon his return.<\/p>\n

Randle finished the night with 32 points, marking the first time this season he\u2019s finished with back-to-back 30-point games.<\/p>\n

\"MINNEAPOLIS,<\/a><\/p>\n

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – MARCH 17: Jaden McDaniels #3 of the Minnesota Timberwolves goes to the basket against Royce O\u2019Neale #00 of the Phoenix Suns in the fourth quarter at Target Center on March 17, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated the Suns 116-104. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by David Berding\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

1). Jaden McDaniels activity on offense while Edwards is out is a non-negotiable. He was an efficient 6-12 from the field for 16 points, but I would have loved to see him a little more active. Granted, he had his hands full guarding Devin Booker (to which he got called for a couple of really tough fouls), but this stretch of games is one where I\u2019d like to see Jaden start demanding the ball. The ball being in his hands is one of the best forms of offense this team can put together.<\/p>\n

2). This game showed the problem the NBA has on its hands from a game flow standpoint. It was after 9:00 (CST), and the game still had time left in the third quarter. Due to flagrant reviews, coach challenges, and regular timeouts, there were several times in which eye-rolling pauses were taken to make sure everything was set up perfectly on the floor. Look, I appreciate the effort that the NBA has put into making sure the determinations on the floor are correct. However, it\u2019s getting to a point where it\u2019s taking pace out of the game, which is one of the best parts about the game itself. I hope some tweaks can be made in the next couple of offseasons (think the Sky Judge the NFL has, or a shot clock getting put on how long a game stoppage takes for a challenge. Just a couple of thoughts.<\/p>\n

The Wolves will bring in an easier challenge for a back-to-back on Wednesday night against the tanking Utah Jazz. The Jazz will be without Lauri Markkanen, and are literally trying to lose. It would be very hard to blow that one, let alone at home.<\/p>\n

Tipoff at Target Center will be at 7:00 PM CST.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They made you sweat a little bit for it, didn\u2019t they? The Phoenix Suns came into Target Center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,6,2065,472,4045,604,51802],"class_list":{"0":"post-665153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-phoenix","11":"tag-phoenix-suns","12":"tag-phoenixsuns","13":"tag-suns","14":"tag-timberwolves-scores"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116251162325960844","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}