On February 25, Beijing time, the NBA regular season officially returned, the Timberwolves defeated the Grizzlies 119-114 at home, winning the third victory of the past four games, russell played well, shooting 13 of 21, 3 of 8 three-pointers, 37 points, 2 rebounds and 9 assists, 37 points is Russell's personal highest points this season.
To be honest, Russell's performance in the first three quarters was not particularly prominent, scoring 3 points, 7 points and 4 points in the third quarter, but in the fourth quarter, Russell suddenly opened the takeover mode, 8 of 12 in a single quarter, 5 of 2 three points, 23 points out of 35 points, and 23 points also equaled the Timberwolves' record of single-player scoring in the last quarter.
It is worth mentioning that with 1 minute and 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies chased the score to 114-114, and it was Russell who received a pass from Towns and shot a key three-pointer, plus this three-pointer, Russell scored 13 points in the past four minutes.
It's no exaggeration to say that this is probably Russell's best game of the season, and before this game, he had only taken 30+ times in total, which were:
— November 9, 2021, against the Grizzlies, 30 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists
- November 28, 2021, against the 76ers, 35 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists
- January 20, 2022, against the Hawks, 31 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists
Zooming in throughout the season, Russell played in 46 games for the Timberwolves, averaging 19.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game.
Russell's shortcomings haven't changed much, and his offensive efficiency is still low, shooting only 41.4%/35.1%/80.7% of the three shots this season, and a true shooting rate of 54.6% - Russell has never had a season in his career that has a true shooting rate of more than 56%, and has been hovering around 50% for the past three seasons.
In addition, Russell's offensive stability is also deviated, just two games before this game, Russell "smashed the basket" for two consecutive games:
Against the Hornets, he scored 18 points on 5-of-20 shooting
Against the Raptors, he scored 8 points on 2-of-11 shooting
So just to discuss the personal offensive aspect, Russell is indeed a nerve knife, which is also his old problem for many years, but Russell is really indispensable to the Timberwolves.
On the one hand, the Timberwolves need Russell's organization, and thanks to the presence of Edwards and Towns, Russell's ball usage has been reduced to 25.5% this season, which is a new low since his rookie season, but his assists (7.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.75) are career-highs.
On the other hand, and more importantly, Russell's defense has improved a lot, especially in defensive three-pointers, this season he can average 5.2 three-point shots per game, and the three-point shooting rate of opposing players has dropped from the usual 35.5% to 26.1%, a gap of nearly 10 percentage points, and such performances have even put Russell into the discussion of the best defensive lineup.
The data also proves Russell's role this season:
When Russell played, the Timberwolves scored 112.9 points/106.0 points per 100 possessions, a net victory of 6.9 points
When Russell went off, the Timberwolves scored 107.7 points/111.3 points per 100 possessions, netting 3.6 points against their opponents
The Timberwolves can win 10.5 points per 100 rounds when Russell is not on the floor, which is 7.0 points for Towns and 9.2 points for Edwards.
One thing that has to be admitted is that Towns is the Timberwolves' boss and All-Star, Edwards is the future of the Timberwolves, in contrast, Russell's attention and expectations are relatively low, and even to this day there are still people who say that he is the eye of the parallel goods list - this statement is obviously incorrect, as far as this Timberwolves are concerned, there are no Russell completely two teams.
Of course, russell can only be the team's three leaders now, compared to the All-Star at the Nets three years ago, naturally not, but whether or not to be selected as an All-Star may not be the most important, the most important thing is that this Timberwolves really have hope of returning to the playoffs this year, and Towns is 26, Russell is 26, Edwards is 20, and the wolf cubs are just about to leave.