On April 30, Beijing time, the playoffs in the Western Division can be described as smoke and smoke, but only one pair of the NBA playoffs first-round series has not yet been won or lost. At 9 a.m., Towns will lead the Timberwolves to the fifth series meeting with the Grizzlies led by Morant in FedEx Plaza, and the two sides are currently fighting in a five-game series, and the Grizzlies are 3-2 ahead of the Timberwolves, and in this game, the Timberwolves have no way to retreat, either to win the game or to be eliminated.
The Timberwolves' interior line can be said to be fierce, especially the performance of powerful center Towns is extremely powerful, scoring 113 points and 55 rebounds alone in the first five playoff games, averaging 26.2 points and 11 rebounds per game. However, despite Downs' excellent performance, the other players of the Timberwolves have limited awareness and ability to rush to rebound, and the Timberwolves have 20 fewer rebounds than the Grizzlies in the 5-game series, which also forces the Timberwolves to fall into passivity. However, Russell and Edwards' outside three-pointers are full of firepower, and the Timberwolves hit 15 more three-pointers than the Grizzlies in the first five rounds of the playoffs, which is afraid that the three-point player advantage will also bring a lot of pressure to the Grizzlies.
In contrast, the Grizzlies will be more stable offensively and defensively than the Timberwolves, and although Adams on the inside is unable to compete with Towns, Morant and Clark will lead the Grizzlies to rush to rebounds, greatly making up for the weakness of the interior. The Grizzlies' core player Morante is in the limelight, and the first five rounds of the playoffs alone scored 112 points, 44 rebounds, and 48 assists, making the current Wolf King Downs firepower output become dull. Although the Grizzlies' outside three-pointer output is much inferior to that of the Timberwolves, the Grizzlies' perfect offensive and defensive conversion and very tacit coordination make the Grizzlies' on-court turnovers 4.4 times less than the Timberwolves' average.
The two sides have won one victory each in the last two rounds of the playoffs, and the difference between the two games is only 3 points, and these two battles can be said to have narrowly won the opponent. In this key battle, it is inevitable that the Grizzlies and Timberwolves will spare no effort to do their best, the Timberwolves' interior killer Towns is strong, and the current Grizzlies' defensive ability is also difficult to curb his output, sacrificing the outside line to wrap Downs' play will make the Grizzlies feel uneasy, the Timberwolves in the playoffs average three-point shooting rate of 38.6%.
Looking at the first five games of the series, if the Timberwolves hit as many as 40% of their outside three-point shots, the Grizzlies' winning percentage tended to be close to zero. In this key game, whether the Grizzlies can stabilize the rebounds in the front and back court, and reduce the average error tolerance rate per game is crucial, although the Grizzlies occupy the advantage of the home court in this game, but in the face of the Timberwolves who are put to death and born, missing the game point seems to be a high probability event, and it is difficult for the Grizzlies to be dragged into the seven-game game.