Phoenix – The Phoenix Suns went into Minneapolis without Devin Booker and Jalen Green and still walked out with a 108–105 gut-check win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night, snapping Minnesota’s five-game winning streak and announcing themselves as a problem in the Western Conference. (ESPN.com)
Mark Williams led Phoenix with 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting, seven rebounds, and his first career made three-pointer, shaking off a brutal flagrant foul from Rudy Gobert that ultimately got the Timberwolves center ejected. (Reuters)
But the story of the night was Gillespie.
Gillespie goes from “Who is this?” to closer
When Gillespie first cracked the rotation, a lot of people had the same reaction: Who is this kid? On a roster full of big names and former lottery picks, the undrafted guard didn’t exactly scream “difference-maker.”
In Minnesota, he played like one.
Gillespie finished with 19 points (6-for-15 FG, 3-for-7 from three), six rebounds, and four assists, and he owned winning time. Eleven of those points came in the fourth quarter, including two ice-cold free throws with 6.3 seconds left to push Phoenix’s lead back to three. On the final possession, he stayed solid defensively as Jaden McDaniels misfired on a potential game-tying three, sealing the win. (Reuters)
For a guy many fans (and some of us in the media) initially wrote off as “nothing special,” this was the kind of performance that forces you to rethink everything. He didn’t just hit shots; he ran the team, absorbed pressure, and looked completely unfazed on a national stage.
Dillon the Villain grinds, Williams takes the hit, and the depth shows up
Dillon Brooks, playing through left Achilles soreness after being listed as questionable before tip, turned in a very Dillon-esque line: 18 points on 7-of-20 shooting, 2-of-8 from deep. (NBA)
It wasn’t his cleanest offensive night, but his physicality and constant pressure on Anthony Edwards and the Wolves’ wings fit the Suns’ new identity.
Williams was the tone-setter. He bullied his way to the line (7-of-9 FT), patrolled the glass, and calmly buried that first-ever three. Gobert’s flagrant-2 hammer on Williams midway through the third quarter flipped the game; Gobert was tossed, while Williams stayed in, shook it off, and kept dominating the paint. (Reuters)
Around them, the Suns’ depth did exactly what good playoff teams need it to do:
- Grayson Allen chipped in 12 points and three assists, spacing the floor and forcing Minnesota’s defense to stay honest. (Reuters)
- Royce O’Neale was the glue guy: 11 points, eight boards, and five assists, defending everywhere and winning 50–50 plays. (NBA)
- Off the bench, Oso Ighodaro (10 points, 5 rebounds), Jordan Goodwin (9 points, 3 rebounds), Jamaree Bouyea(5 points), and Ryan Dunn (8 rebounds, 4 assists) gave Phoenix a real second wave of energy and size. (CBS Sports)
Against a Minnesota team that started the night 15–8 and had been rolling, that depth mattered.
Defense travels — and Phoenix brought 48 minutes of it
Anthony Edwards still got his numbers — a monster 40 points on 15-of-21 shooting with nine rebounds and two assists — but outside of him, the Wolves’ offense never truly found a rhythm. (Reuters)
The Suns’ defense did the rest:
- Held Minnesota to 45.6% from the field and 26.2% from three (11-of-42).
- Forced 15 Timberwolves turnovers, turning them into 24 Phoenix points.
- Won the glass 46–43, and more importantly, dominated second-chance points 18–10, a huge swing in a three-point game. (StatMuse)
This isn’t a one-off either. After finishing a miserable 28th in defensive rating last season, Phoenix has climbed into the middle of the pack and is trending up, fueled by a scheme that forces turnovers — only Oklahoma City and Detroit have been better at generating opponent giveaways entering December. (Valley of the Suns)
Historically, the franchise’s best modern defensive seasons have come from groups like the 2014–15 Suns (106.2 defensive rating, their best mark of the last 15 years) and the 2021–22 team that finished with a 108.0 defensive rating and one of the league’s top records. (StatMuse)
This 2025–26 group isn’t quite at those numbers yet, but games like this — in a hostile building, against an elite offense, without your leading scorer — feel like the closest thing Suns fans have seen to that late-70s/early-80s toughness or the scrappy ’90s groups that punched above their weight.
It’s not just pretty offense anymore. This team actually enjoys making you miserable.
Doing it without Booker and Green
That’s what makes this win hit different: it came without two of Phoenix’s three primary shot creators on the floor.
- Devin Booker missed the game with a right groin strain, an injury he suffered last week. He’s in a seven-day evaluation window and is expected to be re-checked ahead of the Suns’ NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder. (NBA)
- Jalen Green remains out with a right hamstring strain and is expected to miss extended time. (NBA)
In other words: Phoenix went on the road, beat one of the West’s hottest teams, and did it with Gillespie, Williams, Brooks, and a pack of role players carrying the scoring load. That’s the kind of “winning without your stars” profile that usually belongs to battle-tested contenders.
A mentally tough Suns team we haven’t seen in a while
Phoenix led 61–57 at the half, opened the fourth quarter with a 7–0 burst, and then absorbed Minnesota’s late push — a 6–0 run capped by an Edwards layup — without folding. (Bright Side Of The Sun)
For a fan base that lived through the fun-but-soft criticism of the Seven Seconds or Less era and the heartbreak of recent “all-in” failures, this version of the Suns feels different. They’re 14–10 overall, 6–6 on the road, and they’re winning ugly in ways this franchise hasn’t consistently done since those rugged, defensive-minded groups of the late ’70s and early ’80s — or the Barkley/KJ teams that always seemed to find one more stop when they needed it. (Wikipedia)
You can see the mental toughness in the little things:
- Williams is getting up after Gobert’s hit and going right back to work.
- Gillespie is taking the biggest shots of the night like he’s been here for years.
- Brooks, even on a sore Achilles, is chasing shooters and setting the emotional tone. (Reuters)
If this is what the Suns look like now — before Booker and Green are back, before the offense really finds its top gear — then the idea of a deep playoff run doesn’t sound crazy at all. The defense is real, the depth is real, and the belief inside that locker room is starting to feel real, too.
Next up: a Cup quarterfinal showdown with league-leading Oklahoma City. If the Suns bring this version of their defense into that one, nobody is going to be asking “who is Collin Gillespie?” anymore. They’ll already know.
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