Suns pound struggling Timberwolves 108-79
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-03 15:41

Amare Stoudemire scored 23 points to lead six Phoenix players in double-digit scoring in the Suns' 108-79 victory over the scuffling Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett, center, struggles to find a way around the defensive pressure of Phoenix Suns forward Quentin Richardson (3) and center Steven Hunter, right during the first quarter in Minneapolis, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005. The Suns held Garnett to 12 points as they beat the Timberwolves 108-79. [AP]

Shawn Marion had 19 points, and Quentin Richardson added 17, and Steve Nash had 15 points and 11 assists to help the Suns finish 5-1 on their six-game trip.

Phoenix led by 40 points at one point and handed the Timberwolves the fourth-largest home loss in franchise history.

Wally Szczerbiak scored 16 points, and Trenton Hassell had 14 for Minnesota — which went 0-for-6 from 3-point range in the third quarter. The Suns shot 8-for-10 after starting the second half with an 11-0 run.

After falling to .500 two weeks ago, the Timberwolves suggested they were pointed in the right direction by winning five in a row. But a pair of sluggish third-quarter performances (Sunday against Sacramento and Tuesday night in Milwaukee) led to consecutive losses, and the latest dud seemed to put them right back where they started.

Kevin Garnett scored a season-low 12 points and had 13 rebounds for Minnesota, which fell to 24-22 and began the night in ninth place in the Western Conference with the playoffs not all that far away.

Phoenix (37-11), meanwhile, moved within a half-game of San Antonio for the league's best record. The Suns averaged more than 122 points in their five victories on the trip.

With the memory of a 122-115 home loss on Jan. 4 to the Suns still relatively fresh, the Timberwolves realized they needed to control the tempo and keep their speedy opponent from finding uncontested shots and running up and down the court for easy points.

That never happened.

Whether it was purely the Suns' prowess or simply their own deficiencies, the Wolves just didn't seem capable of coming back and making a game of it.

A sure sign things were going bad for the Wolves: Fred Hoiberg, the league's most accurate 3-point shooter at better than 51 percent, missed a pair of wide-open shots from long range on the same possession.

Soon after, Marion made consecutive 3-pointers — the last one a shot from the corner that glanced off the top of the backboard and fell through the net to make it 81-51 with 4:41 left in the period.

Less than a minute later, Richardson banked in a 26-footer. Two minutes after that, consecutive 3-pointers by Jim Jackson gave the Suns a 91-51 advantage.

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