BOSTON -- When John Farrell announced last week the news that his cancer had gone into remission and he was resuming his job as the Boston Red Sox manager, he noted that one of the people he had been in touch with during his treatment was Minnesota Timberwolves basketball coach Flip Saunders, who also was undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma.

On Sunday, the Timberwolves announced that Saunders, 60, had died.

“Out of respect and condolences to his family, that was a shock," Farrell said Monday.

“Knowing how he was progressing at one point through his treatment, and a couple or three weeks ago text messages were going unreplied to, and to be saddened by the announcement yesterday, it obviously hits close."