Alex Bader
The Minnesota Timberwolves fell to the Memphis Grizzlies in overtime after leading by 16 points halfway through the fourth quarter. Minnesota suffered their fourth consecutive loss in a similar fashion; giving up a double-digit lead late in the game. The Wolves dropped to 3-6 on the season.
Coming into the game, the Minnesota Timberwolves were perfect on the road - although they had only played one game on the road thus far.
Minnesota needed a hot start on the road, but more importantly, they needed to play the full game.
Minnesota got D'Angelo Russel back after he missed two games with an ankle sprain. He would need to have a big game to help the Wolves take down Morant and the Grizzlies.
Minnesota got off to a 5-0 start.
Minnesota continued to have a good first quarter, shooting the ball and defending. With four minutes left, the Timberwolves had a 9 point lead, 24-15.
Minnesota continued their trend of starting very hot and jumping out to the early lead.
However, the ever so dangerous Ja Morant put on a show at the end of the quarter to take the lead over the Wolves. With one minute to play in the first quarter, the Grizzlies had the two-point lead, 31-29.
The first quarter ended in a feisty battle between the two teams. Neither team was able to separate and went into the second quarter tied 34 apiece.
Minnesota would need to continue to shoot the ball well and not fall into their old trend of getting worse as the game goes on.
Minnesota came into the quarter playing well but found themselves trailing. The Wolves kept battling throughout.
With just under six minutes in the second quarter, the Timberwolves trailed the Grizzlies by four points.
Minnesota went on a scoring run to tie the game with just over one minute left, 53-53.
Memphis went into halftime with the lead over Minnesota, 58-54.
Minnesota started hot but realized they were going up against the high-flying Morant and the Grizzlies.
Anthony Edwards led the way for the Wolves with 13 points in the first half. DLO had 11 points.
Minnesota shot 40.4 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from the 3-pointer line. Memphis shot 50 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from behind the 3-pointer.
The first half was back and forth. The winner of this game would go to the team who plays strongly in the second half.
Timberwolves started the third quarter well and tied the game at 58 apiece.
Memphis responded by going on a 9-2 scoring run to push the lead to seven, with just over nine minutes to play in the quarter.
It started to look bleak for Minnesota and had the same feeling of past games where the second half would be a disaster for the Wolves.
However, the Wolves battled back and showed their resiliency.
With just under five minutes left in the third quarter, the Timberwolves went on a 12-2 scoring run to regain the lead, 77-75.
Minnesota continued their hot shooting, grabbing the 3-point lead with two minutes to play in the third quarter, 84-81.
The Timberwolves went into the fourth quarter with the 11 point lead, 92-81. They ended the third quarter hot and played extremely well.
With the issues Minnesota have had with finishing out games, the fourth quarter was going to be huge.
On the brink of going 4-5 with a win or going 3-6 with a loss, this was the most important fourth quarter of the season so far.
ANT got the fourth quarter started with a steal and then a huge slam dunk. He followed that up with a 3-pointer.
Minnesota kept the foot on the gas. With six minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Wolves had the 12 point lead, 102-90.
With just under four minutes to play in the game, the Grizzlies cut the deficit to seven, 106-99 Wolves.
Minnesota had the five-point lead with just over two minutes to play in the game, 108-103 Wolves.
Memphis battled back and had all the momentum.
Minnesota couldn't hit their shots in the dying moments of the game.
With just over one minute left in the game, the Wolves saw their lead cut to two points, 108-106 Minnesota.
Memphis tied the game at 108 apiece. Ja Morant went and scored a 3-pointer to put the Grizzlies in the lead after KAT traveled in the offensive zone.
There was 32 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.
DLO made two free throws to get the Wolves within 1 point.
With 6.1 seconds left in the game, there was a jump ball.
The ball went out and it was the Wolves ball.
There were 3.9 seconds left.
However, Minnesota somehow made a grade school mistake and got the 5-second violation, giving the ball away and essentially the game.
ANT fouled Morant, Morant made both free throws pushing the lead to three for Memphis, 113-110.
There were 2 seconds on the clock, the Wolves through the ball it went out of bounds on Memphis.
Minnesota had an offensive inbound with 1.1 seconds left in the game.
Naz Reid threw the ball to KAT, and KAT lobbed the 3-point hail mary and he banked it in, tying the game at the buzzer.
The two teams went into overtime tied at 113. It was a frantic and hectic ending to the game that had just about everything, so adding a buzzer-beating tying shot was certainly the icing on the cake.
There was another five minutes on the clock as these two teams continued to battle it out.
Memphis started the overtime period with a 4-0 scoring run. There were just over three minutes to play in the overtime.
DLO buried two free throws to get the Wolves back within two points.
With 22.7 seconds to play in overtime, Memphis had the five-point lead, 123-118.
Minnesota failed to show up in overtime and let the game slip away after leading by 16 with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Memphis won the game by a score of 125-118.
Russel led the way with 30 points in his game back from injury. ANT had 27 points and KAT had 25 points.
Ja Morant led the way for Memphis with 33 points. Clarke had 20 points off the bench for the Grizzlies.
BADER'S TAKE
Frustration.
What a hectic game and a hectic fourth quarter. It was not a pretty fourth quarter but the Wolves somehow managed to get to overtime. But yet again, with the game on the line, they failed to show up.
Minnesota ran ISO plays in overtime, but it didn't work and there was no ball movement whatsoever. They let the clock run and run while they were the ones chasing the game.
Compare that to Memphis, who made 7 or so passes before taking the shot. Memphis also seemed to want the game more in overtime as they were battling for the rebounds and the second chance buckets.
The Wolves seemed to be content with getting the game to overtime - I am not content.
Minnesota played arguably their most complete game as of late, having strong first, second, and third quarters. They even started the fourth and final quarter strong. But with seven minutes left, they somehow managed to let their 16 point lead be blown to dust and into a deficit, and the Wolves were chasing the game in the final moments.
It was a different game, but the same story; the Timberwolves failed to finish and close out games.
Minnesota went cold late in the fourth and all of a sudden their defense was non-existent. It was all too familiar for Wolves fans.
They made silly mistakes. Tonight, the five-second violation call late in the fourth quarter was a direct result of the Minnesota players not moving to get open. DLO was double-teamed, the three other players were just standing on the opposite side of the court not moving.
They need better ball movement. They need to play like they want the ball and want the win.
From what I saw in the dying moments and over time, was a team that did not care. KAT's 3-pointer was a hail mary and never should have gone in.
The Timberwolves in the end got what they deserved and that was the loss. They were nonchalant in overtime and played horribly. They have lots of things to fix and will need some sort of miracle performance if they are to go take down the high-flying Warriors and Curry.
What's Next:
Minnesota (3-6) at Golden State (8-1) on Wednesday November, 10th. Tip-off at 9 p. m.
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