The Grizzlies took their sixth victory of the course after beating the Timberwolves 125-118. Those of Memphis needed an extension to be able to seal the victory, because, when it seemed that they had the game in their hand, Karl-Anthony Towns pulled out of his sleeve an impossible triple on the horn that put the tie in the electronic and forced play five more minutes. However, not even the emotional blow sank Jenkins’ men, who managed to rebuild and end up adding a new triumph.
Those of Tennesse, who had seen themselves 16 points down in the fourth quarter (86-102), had pulled epic to overcome a meeting that had very uphill. Led as usual by Ja Morant and supported by Jaren Jackson Jr., who played a low-key game but scored 9 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies signed a 25-8 run that completely turned the game around. duel, which gave them a three-point lead with just 1.1 seconds to go.
That’s when Towns worked the miracle. Naz Reid did not find a clear pass on the throw-in, and had to throw the ball to the pivot, who, in his attempt to gain some space from the defenders, had been forced to move almost to the center of the field. It was there that he received the ball, and with no time for anything other than to shoot, he looked for the hoop and managed to score one of the most complicated decisive baskets in history.
The Wolves erupted in jubilation and the FedEx Forum froze for a few seconds, but the Grizzlies’ reaction was exemplary. Far from collapsing before such a blow, the locals gave continuity to the basketball that had made them overcome the match in the last minutes, and with a 12-5 partial they took the extension without too many difficulties and without giving Minnesota the option to force another miracle . Finch’s men suffered their sixth defeat of the course, a particularly painful one because of how they missed the victory in the last quarter and how they were unable to take advantage of a basket that comes one in a thousand times.
And it is that the crash once again showed that the rotation men of the squad need to contribute more. The three stars of the team once again stood out and surpassed 25 points each, as D’Angelo Russell finished with 30, Anthony Edwards with 27 and Towns with 25, but the rest of the team fell short. The contribution of the substitutes was especially scarce, who added only 16 points to 43 from the Grizzlies bench.
They knew how to surround Morant much better, who had up to five teammates in double digits in scoring. Among them, Brandon Clarke with 20 points or De’Anthony Melton with 19 stood out, although other men such as the aforementioned Jackson or Desmond Bane and Kyle Anderson, authors of 13 and 12 points respectively, also added in key moments.
(Cover photo: Justin Ford / Getty Images)