The Timberwolves and Grizzlies have always put on a show in the past years when they’ve played against each other. Coming into tonight you have two of the NBA’s brightest stars in Anthony Edwards and Ja Morant going head to head. The crazy thing about this game was the fact that both struggled to get anything going offensively but they had teammates that carried the load for them.
The Memphis Grizzlies has Jaren Jackson Jr who was playing like an All Star tonight. It seemed like every time the Grizzlies got caught in an awkward position with time running out in the shot clock that JJJ came through. Tonight Jackson Jr was a nightmare mismatch for the Timberwolves as Jackson was able to put his hands all over the outcome of the game inside and out. When Jackson had Gobert/Reid on him he was attacking the paint and trying to get them in foul trouble. Jaren Jackson Jr. finished with 33 points but was able to keep the Grizzlies in the game with Ja struggling to find his rhythm on the offensive end. Jaren Jackson is more than just a defensive player and he showed that tonight with his team depending on him that he can show up in big moments. The Memphis Grizzlies made every hustle play tonight against the Timberwolves and expose them on the offensive glass. Both teams were grinding it out, but overall Memphis came out to play on a mission as their ball movement with cutting into the basket was extremely impressive tonight.
For the Minnesota Timberwolves, the spotlight for them tonight was on Donte DiVincenzo. He had his biggest game as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Donte finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists filling up the stat sheet. Donte was putting on a show in front of the hometown faithful and was able to take the load scoring tonight. Since being inserted into the lineup Donte has looked a lot more comfortable and has found his role that was needed for this team to push forward. Donte’s play as of late has been what the Wolves fans have wanted and he made the Grizzlies pay with some big time 3 pointers going 6/11 from long range. Jaden McDaniels had one of his best games this season as well finishing with 21 points and 6 rebounds while holding Ja Morant to only 12 points on 5/19 shooting. When Jaden plays like this on both ends of the court he’s special and if the Wolves can get this consistently going into the 2nd half the league will be in trouble.
The game was decided in the final minutes of the 4th quarter and when Zach Edey was put back into the game with 3 minutes left things were tough for the Timberwolves. Edey was posing a threat in the paint defensively all night and his extra possessions helped Memphis time after time with big shots. The Grizzlies had 21 offensive rebounds tonight and those 2nd chance points killed momentum. In the end it was Ja Morant who had the last laugh after struggling as he was able to hit a floater over Anthony Edwards to get the win.
These two teams play really good games when they face up against each other. Any NBA fan would love seven games of this series and this won’t be the last of Ja Morant versus Anthony Edwards.
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