MINNEAPOLIS _ Fifteen days after they lost a game in Phoenix they might not soon forget, the Timberwolves answered back with Sunday's 119-108 home victory over a Suns team missing injured star guard Devin Booker.
This time, the Wolves led 27-13 early and trailed by four points in the second quarter before they ran out to a lead as big as 18 points after halftime.
They were led by young star Karl-Anthony Towns' 32-point, 12-rebound double-double. Jimmy Butler scored 25 points and Andrew Wiggins 21.
Tyus Jones had nine points, seven assists, seven steals and four rebounds while starting at point guard for injured Jeff Teague.
Wolves veteran forward Taj Gibson had a double-double of his own, with 16 points and 14 rebounds, on an afternoon when the Wolves outrebounded Phoenix, 48-37.
Rookie Mike James led the Suns with 26 points off the bench.
The Wolves now have started the season 12-8.
The last time these teams played, Booker and TJ Warren each scored 35 points and the Suns used a late-game 14-0 run to win 118-100 at Phoenix two weeks earlier.
The Suns scratched Booker from their lineup not long before opening tip because of inflammation in his big toe.
It's the same kind of injury that caused his only missed game a season ago. That one bothered him for a month, so Booker decided not to play Sunday, hoping to avoid such a situation this time around.
The Wolves, in turn, played without Teague and reserve forward Nemanja Bjelica for a second consecutive game.
Teague is experiencing soreness in his Achilles tendon and Bjelica has a mid-foot sprain on the same left foot that required surgery last March to repair a broken bone.
Jones started for Teague on Sunday after veteran Aaron Brooks started Friday's home loss to Miami.
If the Wolves should miss the playoffs or home-court advantage by a game come April, that Nov. 11 game at Phoenix could be one they look at as one that got away.
"You remember it, but you have to let it go because you understand the games come like every five minutes in this league," Gibson said before the game. "There's always going to be another game, another challenge. You have to let it go, but you always have that bad, sour taste in your mouth."
