The Timberwolves look to build on a big win over one of the NBA's top clubs on Wednesday night when they host the Suns, who are coming off a narrow victory over one of the league's worst.

Minnesota (3-9) struggled out of the gate this season, losing eight straight after a season-opening victory. The Timberwolves, though, have won two out of three after beating perennial Eastern Conference contender Detroit 106-80 on Sunday.

Third-year guard Randy Foye had a season-high 23 points and a career-high 14 assists while going 9-for-12 from the field in Minnesota's first road win of the season.

"Tonight showed what kind of player Randy can be," Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman said. "We've been talking to him for the last two days, telling him that he needed to be more aggressive."

Foye responded with the third double-double of his career and his best shooting performance of the season.

"Everything seemed simple tonight," said Foye, averaging 11.3 points and 5.8 assists but shooting only 37.9 percent in 2008-09. "Coach told me to go for it, and there was a lot of energy out there."

Foye's big night helped Minnesota rebound from a disheartening defeat in its previous outing. After shooting a season-low 31.3 percent from the field in a 95-78 loss to Boston on Friday night, Minnesota shot a season-high 53.0 percent against Detroit.

"We weren't happy with the way we lost to Boston, and we knew we were playing a similar team tonight," said forward Ryan Gomes, who scored a season-high 20 points and made 9 of 11 shots. "Tonight, we did the job."

The Suns (10-5) can't be quite as confident after narrowly escaping a loss to the team with the worst record in the league Tuesday night. Phoenix trailed by 12 points in the fourth quarter before rallying for an 99-98 victory and sending Oklahoma City to its 12th straight defeat.

Steve Nash had 20 points and a season-high 15 assists, and Matt Barnes made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 25.7 seconds left to steal the victory.

The Suns were without center Shaquille O'Neal as part of coach Terry Porter's plan to give the 36-year-old veteran days off in back-to-back sets to preserve his health. Nash took advantage by leading a faster-paced Phoenix offense reminiscent of how the team played before acquiring O'Neal at last season's trade deadline.

"Terry's been working with us and trying to get us to get back to doing some of the things we used to do, things that we're good at, when (O'Neal's) not on the floor," said Nash, averaging 8.1 assists after three straight seasons with at least 10.5 per game.

"We have spent a lot of time working on (incorporating O'Neal), and we've lost our rhythm there a little bit. We found it a bit tonight."

O'Neal is expected to return Wednesday to match up with Al Jefferson, Minnesota's leading scorer and rebounder with 22.3 points and 9.6 boards per game. Jefferson excelled against Phoenix last season, averaging 30.5 points and 15.3 rebounds as the Timberwolves split four meetings with the Suns.

O'Neal played in one of those games, scoring five points with 11 rebounds in a 117-88 Phoenix victory April 4.