On April 30, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, the last set of showdowns in the first round of the playoffs, the Timberwolves lost to the Grizzlies at home 106-114, the Timberwolves once led by 13 points in the game, but the offensive power was cut off in the last quarter, and the Grizzlies played a crazy wave.
In the end, the Grizzlies beat the Timberwolves 4-2 to advance to the Western Conference semifinals, a game that disappointed Russell again, with 7 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists, and the bench in the final quarter, and it was time for the Timberwolves to trade him to help Edwards.
In this game, Russell played 27 minutes and 14 seconds, and he was also the least playing time among the three main players. He scored 7 points + 1 rebound + 4 assists + 3 steals + 4 turnovers on 3 of 7 of 7 in the first three quarters, which also led to him being directly pressed on the bench in the fourth quarter of the game, and in the fourth quarter he could only watch from the sidelines, pinning his hopes on teammates and opponents who did not score much.
Russell, 26, got a big contract of $117 million for four years in the summer of 2019 and earned $30.01 million a year this season, but Russell's performance in this series was really too much.
Russell is averaging 12 points + 33% shooting per game! If you don't count this game, his statistics are also very miserable, averaging 13 points+ 2.8 rebounds + 7.2 assists in 33.8 minutes per game, the sixth in the league, but also averaging 2.6 turnovers per game and shooting 32.3% from the field.
In terms of advanced data, Russell's average net efficiency per game is -3.4, which also shows that the Timberwolves spent money, but the money was not used on the cutting edge. Of the four games lost in the playoffs, the Timberwolves had a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter in three games, but the Timberwolves turned over.
And this series also proves a truth, Russell is not suitable for this Timberwolves, and the Timberwolves should not be corrected by Downs, but Edwards!
In the first round of the series, Edwards averaged 25.2 points per game, shooting 45.5% from the field and 40.4% from three-point range! And Downes? Towns had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists on 6-of-19 minutes and 4 assists in 40 minutes and 4 seconds, averaging -3 plus-minus per game, which also meant that he was losing 3 points per game. Very direct, no contrast, no harm, the Timberwolves should build a lineup with Edwards as the core, come on!