Several Wolves players miss game at Phoenix because of illness

PHOENIX – The Timberwolves have had an illness rip through the team at one of the worst possible times.

On Monday, forward Taurean Prince sat out because of the bug and did so again Wednesday. But in addition to Prince, there was a slow drip of players who were added to the injury report as "questionable" Wednesday afternoon because of what Chris Finch termed an "intestinal flu."

First was forward Kyle Anderson, one of the team's most important players. Then Austin Rivers was added and eventually declared out. Anthony Edwards joined the list a few hours before tipoff. Finch mentioned multiple players were "kind of battling right now" before the game. Anderson and Edwards were both available to play.

"Obviously would rather it came in August, but we got to work through it," Finch said of the illness' timing. "We've played so much of this season without so many guys at some point or another. We'll be ready."

There were varying degrees of the illness going around the team, with some players saying they had symptoms that weren't as severe as some of their teammates'. Finch said he felt the Wolves still had enough to win against Phoenix, which got Kevin Durant back from a sprained ankle.

"In things we do, we try to keep flexible enough to be able to adjust a little bit. We still got enough of our core pieces that we feel super confident in," Finch said.

Guard Jaylen Nowell sat out because of ongoing left knee tendinopathy.

After completing his Wolves tenure last season, guard Josh Okogie came to the Suns on a one-year deal, and he has revitalized his career with Phoenix this season.

Okogie, who made his reputation on defense, has become an essential part of the Suns' rotation over the last several weeks. He started the past 18 games entering Wednesday and was averaging 7.2 points per game. He was shooting a career-best 33% from three-point range.

Finch said Okogie is benefiting from a better fit in Phoenix than he had with Minnesota.

"Love Josh. It was great to have him," Finch said. "... We know his defense, his hustle, his winning intangibles. I think when I look back on his experience with us, we have a lot of freedom in our system offensively, and maybe he's a little better in a tighter role, and the Suns certainly don't need him to do maybe as much as maybe was offered in our system. I think that's really suited him well."

After having one of his worst games of the season Sunday against Golden State, forward Jaden McDaniels was the team's leading scorer Monday against the Kings with 20 points.

McDaniels wasted little time in bouncing back; he hit his first six shots of the night in the first quarter.

Finch recognized the need to get McDaniels going, and called an action for him on the first play — a screen and roll with point guard Mike Conley.

"We put him in action to see maybe it would go his way and it did," Finch said. "But he just was aggressive. I knew being the competitor that he is, I knew he was going to come out that way."

The Sunday game was not typical of McDaniels. When he was at Washington, he had a habit of letting his emotions get the better of him and he drew a number of technical fouls. At the NBA level, McDaniels has maintained a simmering competitive fire that his teammates and coaches love, but he has rarely let that boil over.

After he got in foul trouble, which limited him to only 10 minutes and one point, McDaniels drew a technical in the fourth quarter of a close game for slamming the ball. It didn't come back to bite the Wolves, and he still was key on defense in the final possessions of the game.

"I had to not let the last game affect me," McDaniels said. "Just come in a new game, being confident in my game and just taking the right shots."