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Suns look to recover from tough loss vs. T-Wolves

Jan 16, 2009 - 11:37 AM Minnesota (11-26) at Phoenix (22-14) 9:00 p.m. EST

PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Coming off an agonizing overtime loss on Thursday, the Phoenix Suns will have to recover quickly as they return home to take on the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.

The Suns took the Denver Nuggets to overtime in a back-and-forth affair on Thursday, eventually falling, 119-113. They felt they were hosed, however, at the end of regulation, as Grant Hill drove to the basket and lost control of the ball amid some contact. There was no whistle - much to the chagrin of Hill and Phoenix head coach Terry Porter - and the Nuggets caught fire in the extra session en route to the victory.

Now the Suns get to face a team they've already beaten once this season - a 110-102 triumph in late November.

Then again, this Minnesota team isn't such a pushover these days. After a season of discontent - during which they fired head coach Randy Wittman and demoted VP of basketball operations Kevin McHale to the role - the T-Wolves have finally begun to see some results from the youth movement that last summer's trade of Kevin Garnett ignited.

Minnesota began 2009 with five straight victories - doubling their season total in just eight days - before seeing its season-long streak come to an end in a hard-fought, 99-96 loss to Miami on Tuesday.

Still, the T-Wolves got another big effort from Randy Foye, who has been the catalyst for their recent surge. The third-year guard posted 29 points and eight assists in the losing cause and is averaging 22.2 points while shooting 52 percent (45-of-87) from the floor.