PHOENIX _ Timberwolves young star Andrew Wiggins survived both a mob scene and a crucial missed free throw on Tuesday night in Phoenix, where his shot from the right corner as time expired gave the Wolves a 112-111 victory over the Suns.
Wiggins missed one of two free throws with 12.1 seconds left while Suns forward P.J. Tucker made both of his with 6.3 seconds left, but that one missed point became moot when Wiggins' desperation shot as the clock ticked out found net.
While teammates rushed to mob Wiggins, Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau furiously pumped his fist, just seconds after he gone into a rage after the foul call that sent Tucker to the line.
Wiggins scored 14 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter alone, taking the ball into his hands repeatedly and helped the Wolves turned a score tied at 98 with five minutes left into a 109-106 lead with 90 seconds remaining.
Guard Devin Booker led the Suns with 26 points.
But Eric Bledsoe's driving, falling layup that he turned into a three-point play tied the game for the seventh time, this time with 1:05 left.
But after Ricky Rubio traveled and Bledsoe missed a 3, Wiggins again had the ball in his hands, this time with the clock ticking down and the game on the line.
He spun into the lane and drew a foul, but missed the first free throw and made the second and the Wolves led 110-109 with 12.1 seconds left.
Booker made three of his four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and reached 20 points for the 10th consecutive game. By doing so, he became the first Suns player to do so since Amare Stoudemire did so in 11 consecutive games from Nov. 30 to Dec. 25, 2008.
Trailing by three points at halftime, the Wolves opened the second half with a 17-6 run that gave them a 76-62 lead midway through the third quarter.
They started that run with Rubio's 22-foot jump shot and finished it with Rubio scoring the final four points in his first game back since he left Thursday's victory over the Clippers at Los Angeles at halftime.
The Wolves still led 87-79 after three quarters before the Suns took consecutive Kris Dunn turnovers and headed off on a 15-5 run that started the fourth quarter and put them ahead 93-92 with seven minutes left after Booker scored the final five points in that run.
After the score was tied at 96 and 98, the Wolves scored the next four points, starting with Gorgui Dieng's jump shot and continuing with Wiggins' hanging layup after Booker had been stripped off the ball at the floor's other end.
Wiggins' layup gave the Wolves a 102-98 lead with four minutes left and
Back in the arena where he had the first big game of his career as a rookie nearly three years ago, Shabazz Muhammad scored 15 of his 16 points in a wild first half.
It careened to and fro, with the Wolves leading as many as nine points early and the Suns leading by 11 by early in the second quarter.
The Wolves' early lead was 14-5, but the Suns quickly reversed course, transforming the game with a run of their own _ a 29-9 whopper _ that took them from nine points behind into 34-23 lead before the second quarter was two minutes old.
So guess what?
The Suns still led by 11 points when the Wolves answered right back with a 10-0 run and before you knew it, they were within 38-37 midway through the second quarter.
When Phoenix pushed back and led by five points again, the Wolves came up with yet another run.
This time, it was 8-0 and they led 56-53 before the Suns tied the game with Bledsoe's falling layup and three-point play with 26 seconds left before halftime.
But Muhammad's 3-pointer from the left corner with 8.9 seconds left sent the Wolves into intermission with a 59-56 lead.
