How to watch Timberwolves at Suns, as Anthony Edwards faces Devin Booker and Kevin Durant

Anthony Edwards is apoplectic .

Kevin Durant and company are in desperation mode.

Sunday nights national TV nightcap pairs two starry if struggling sides, with the Minnesota Timberwolves eager to get out of the Western Conference play-in and the Phoenix Suns scrambling to make it in.

If each team were up for an Oscar on Sunday night...

Minnesota, Best New Hoopers: With Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo on the sidelines recently, head coach Chris Finch and Minnesota have been extracting more from their young bench.

Jaylen Clark, a two-way signing and 2023 second-round pick, held his own in two starts against Oklahoma City last week.

Rookie Rob Dillingham had multiple spirited moments in the teams momentous Thunder upset.

And lefty first-year Terrence Shannon Jr.

is starting to look like a bucket.

He hit Fridays contest averaging more than 13 points across his last six games, with a 53.6 shooting percentage and a 3.8 plus-minus.

Edwards and Naz Reid are the alpha and omega here, but its nice to see the young Wolves show some life in a critical stretch.

Advertisement Phoenix, Best Original Screenplay: Before consecutive dances with the flailing Pelicans, the Suns were just 2-9 in February.

They are 20th in net rating and will have to really lock in to crack the conferences top 10.

Durant, Booker, and Bradley Beal (the big three) have been largely available, with KD amid his fourth-most efficient year in 17 campaigns.

The Suns made a midseason effort to improve with wholesale rebounder Nick Richards.

And its been one huge, disorienting disaster.

There are a lot of sub-.500 teams littered across NBA history, but few are as uniquely deflating as this Phoenix iteration.

The Suns are The Royal Tenenbaums of professional basketball.

The Athletic s Bob Harkins on Kevin Durants rejected trade to the Warriors: I dont feel like there was a need to make that big a change right now, he said.

It didnt make sense to me.

Durant made it clear that he did not stiff-arm the Warriors due to any animosity between he and his former teammate Draymond Green, an argument backed by the fact he was saying it to Greens face ...

on Greens podcast.

Nor did it have anything to do with the backlash he received when he went to Golden State as a free agent in 2016.

...

For Durant, his desire to stay in Phoenix had far more to do with pedestrian matters, such as the pain of packing up and moving in the middle of a season.

I didnt want to move, he said.

He also said he felt a commitment to the Suns, a squad beset by injuries that has seen 13 players start games this season.

The Athletic s Jon Krawczynski on Anthony Edwards technical fouls: One of the NBAs most exciting young stars, a player oozing with so much charisma that he regularly is mentioned as someone capable of taking the torch from LeBron James and Steph Curry, has entered a dangerous zone when it comes to interactions with league officials.

Advertisement His name is becoming synonymous with the likes of Rasheed Wallace, DeMarcus Cousins and Draymond Green, all wonderfully talented players whose reputations were marred by volatile interactions with officials and antics that drew the wrong kind of attention to themselves and their teams.

Edwards picked up two technical fouls in the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-102 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, his 15th and 16th of the season.

If the league does not rescind one of them, he will be suspended for Friday nights game in Utah.

When he tossed the ball into the stands a major no-no in the eyes of the league he also set himself up for yet another fine in a season that has already cost him $285,000 for five separate infractions.

Starting five of players to wear both jerseys (min.

50 games with each franchise): The bench mob includes Tyus Jones, Michael Beasley and Luc Longley.

(Photo of Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant: Christian Petersen / Getty Images).

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