On February 25, Beijing time, the Timberwolves hosted the Grizzlies led by Morant, and the Timberwolves successfully defended the home court 119-114. At the beginning of the game, the Grizzlies were furious, giving the Timberwolves at home a shot in the second half of the first quarter, and Zaire Williams scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first quarter, helping the Grizzlies lead the Timberwolves by 10 points at 31-21. But Grizzlies star Morante did not perform well in this game, hitting just seven of his 25 shots to get 20 points, leading to a 15-point lead in the first half. On the other hand, the Timberwolves' Russell is full of firepower, scoring a new season high of 37 points on 13 of 21, which is a lesson for Morant, who is also the top show.
Russell's performance in this game was impressive. Russell scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the first three quarters, and in the crucial final quarter, the two teams were tied up and their teammates felt cold, at which point Russell stood up. In the moment of crisis, Russell was full of firepower, shooting 8 of 12 shots, 5 free throws all steadily hit, and 23 points were scored by 0 mistakes in the single quarter. The Timberwolves gave the rival Grizzlies two straight losses while winning in a big reversal.
From the data of this game alone, whether it is scoring or overall performance, Russell's play in this game is completely better than Morant. But it's worth noting that the man defending Morant is not Russell, so just judging from the performance of this game is not enough to explain which of the two is stronger or weaker. But there is no doubt that Morant has exposed a fatal flaw in this game, that is, the low shooting percentage when facing tough defense. Beverley is the league's famous "dog skin plaster", and his defense has caused headaches for countless defender players. Morant has averaged 26.7 points per game this season and is shooting 48.9 percent from the field. But against the Timberwolves, Morant shot just 33.8 percent from the field and averaged 6.7 points less per game. This once again shows that Beverley is a good defender, but for Morant, learning to break through tough defenses is a must for Morant to achieve more honors.
Speaking of Russell, the MVP of this game is none other than Russell, and it turns out that Russell does not lack scoring ability. But he's a "nerve knife" player who can score 23 points in a single quarter or get double-digit points in the whole game. Russell's problem is that he is very unstable, and in many of the games this season, Russell can be said to be stealthy and running all over the field. Of course, Russell is only 26 years old this year, and he still has a long way to go and a lot of time to improve.