Today the Timberwolves played against the Grizzlies, and it was called a ups and downs. Back at home, the Timberwolves started with a 12-0 run of the Grizzlies, then maintained a double-digit lead, at one point leading to 20+.
In the second quarter, the Timberwolves led 8-0 to 26 points, and then they suddenly stopped scoring, scoring just four points 10 minutes after the second quarter. The final five minutes were scored without a single point, and the Grizzlies played a 15-0 wave to chase the gap back to seven points.
Leading 20+ is reversed, which is not a rare thing in the NBA, and when your coach is Rivers or the opposite coach is Tyrone Lou, you can trigger this reversed buff.
But the two leads to more than 25 points can be reversed, and I really haven't seen this kind of scene. After the Grizzlies trailed the deficit to seven points at the end of the half, the Timberwolves went all-in again in the third quarter to suppress the Grizzlies, leading the Grizzlies by as many as 25 points at 79-54 with 3:10 left.
Then the Timberwolves went into a moment of total confusion, and Morant seized the opportunity to play several counter-attacks, a wave of 13-4, and the point difference was chased back to 16 points. Even if it is a 16-point advantage, it is big enough to enter the final quarter, as long as the Timberwolves stabilize in the first half of the fourth quarter, the ball is basically won.
But what did the Timberwolves do? They were hit 16-0 by the Grizzlies at the start of the fourth quarter and were directly tied by the Grizzlies. Their defense was messy, the offense had no center of gravity, and they were completely overwhelmed by waves of Grizzlies' offense. This is probably the fastest I've ever seen, the fastest to be tied after taking a 25-point lead.
That said, late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves were hit by the Grizzlies on a 29-4 wave of super attacks. During this time, Timberwolves head coach Finch did not even call for a timeout.
Of course, the Timberwolves have done too many outrageous operations today, and after being leveled, they are still the same as the walking dead, completely without the previous momentum. The three cores of the offensive end did not dare to ask for the ball, and all of them were handed over to others to play.
The Grizzlies grabbed 19 rebounds in the fourth quarter, while the Timberwolves had just five rebounds. In both the second and fourth quarters, the Timberwolves scored just 12 points, losing 36 points in both quarters combined.
In the past 25 years of playoffs, the 25-point lead has been a total of 389 games, of which only nine have been successful. Today's Timberwolves, on the other hand, are twice ahead by more than 25 points.
Both teams are youth players and both love to make mistakes, and this game shows this vividly. But what makes the Grizzlies better than the Timberwolves is that they can find the right way to play quickly after making mistakes, and the Timberwolves are far less mature than the Grizzlies.
That's why the Grizzlies are in second place in the West, achieving an extremely high winning percentage without Morant. Today, Morant shot 5-of-18, and although he got a triple-double, he didn't play very well, but the Grizzlies can still complete the reversal.
Towns is arguably the Timberwolves' biggest criminal of the game, playing 32 minutes and 46 seconds, shooting 3-of-4 from the field, and having just 8 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist. He got 5 offenses in three stanzas, doesn't this sentence sound a little familiar?
In the last game, he also led the fifth foul early and had to go off. In the end, he only shot 7 times in the whole game, and scored 15 points. Today the game was even more excessive, with only four shots in the game.
Playing the Clippers in the play-offs, Towns suffered four fouls in the first half and left the court with six fouls in 1 minute. Shot 3-of-11. In all three games, Towns has committed more fouls than scored goals, and his performance is all war criminal level.
There were 16 fouls in three games, many of which Towns could avoid, as long as his small moves were not so much, as long as his defensive habits were a little better, he could free his hands and feet to help the team, but he did not do it.
Everybody says you're soft, but just because you're playing too many fouls on the defensive end doesn't mean you're hardening. Mr. Tang, you have to stand up, you took the three-point king before, saying that you are the best big pitcher in history?
As for the topic of whether the Timberwolves can black seven, it can basically end. You can't hold on to the 26-point lead, do you still want to black seven?