The day started off with the breaking news that Anthony Edwards was going to be in the NBA All-Star Game. Edwards was selected as an injury replacement and got the news at the shootaround today. This was also the first game after the trade and the Minnesota Timberwolves were excited to have Conley Jr and Alexander-Walker available for tonight. The new-look Timberwolves were ready for all the smoke as they were ready to go toe to toe with their playoff rivals from last postseason.
The Timberwolves started this game off really well as Mike Conley Jr was able to make an instant impact. The ball was flowing and he was able to get the ball in the spots that Gobert/Edwards wanted to attack from the start. You can still see that the relationship is new as they had some minor mistakes but as time goes along these small hiccups can be straightened out with ease. The Timberwolves got a true leader in Mike Conley Jr and he showed a lot of those traits tonight out there. Anthony Edwards finished the game with 17 points and couldn’t really get his offense going as he shot 8/19 from the field. Edwards was attacking but didn’t get the calls and it didn’t help that the game was played in Memphis. Sometimes stars can get a call when they’re at home so once Edwards jumper was off it threw the whole game off for him. One thing that we didn’t see tonight was the defensive Ant that can use his defense to create easy offense but he will most definitely bounce back.
Anthony Edwards is an All-Star now and that comes with a lot of responsibility and accountability when it comes to your team. The starters struggled in this game but it was good to see Jaylen Nowell get into a shooting groove as he was able to add 21 points off the bench to be the games leading scorer for the Timberwolves. Nowell has shown glimpses of what he can do when he gets hot so hopefully this will continue leading into other games for the Timberwolves. You have to give the Timberwolves a lot of credit they went out there with a new point guard and tried to make the best of it against a well-oiled machine in Memphis. That Memphis squad knows each other inside out and plays together as a unit with experience together.
It was too much Ja Morant for the Timberwolves tonight as he was able to do anything and everything he wanted. This season the Timberwolves have held Morant in check somewhat but tonight it just got out of hand. Ja finished with 32 points, 9 assists, and 9 rebounds and was able to get in there for 3 steals as well. It was a game where he was able to control the pace and tempo of the game on his own. When Ja Morant gets to play comfortably and gets a lot of space to operate it’s tough for any defense. Minnesota wasn’t putting multiple bodies on Morant and it gave him a chance to set the offense up or catch the Timberwolves while they weren’t set. Memphis shot 58% from the field and when you’re that hot it’s going to be a long night for any defense.
The Timberwolves are going to throw this game out as the Grizzlies beat them in every category tonight (REBS, FT, AST, STL, BLK, BENCH PTS, POINTS IN PAINT, ETC). This is one of the reasons why it’s good to get 82 games so if you have one like this you can forget and move on. The Timberwolves will be looking to bounce back on Monday as they take on the new look Dallas Mavericks with Luka & Kyrie.
Photo Credit: (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)
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