The Memphis Grizzlies try to snap a three-game losing skid on Sunday when they welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves for a Western Conference matchup.
Minnesota arrives a winner in 10 of its past 12, though it dropped its most recent decision in a 124-111 loss on Friday vs. Sacramento.
Anthony Edwards scored 35 points for his second consecutive game of 30-plus points. He finished with 31 in a win over Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Karl-Anthony Towns posted his second consecutive double-double and eighth of the season in Friday’s NBA in-season tournament loss with 27 points and 11 rebounds.
No other Timberwolves scorer registered more than Rudy Gobert’s 12 points, though Minnesota coach Chris Finch praised Troy Brown Jr.’s season-high 10 points off the bench as a building block moving forward.
“We probably need more from our bench overall. Troy was a bright spot out there,” Finch said in his postgame press conference.
Brown added a season-high seven rebounds and a blocked shot to go with his 10 points.
“It was good to see (Brown) out there with his activity,” said Finch, “his rebounds, making quick decisions on offense.”
Minnesota comes into Memphis looking to extend a start to the 2023-24 season in which it has not lost consecutive games. The Timberwolves rallied from their two most recent losses to run off winning streaks of seven and three games.
Memphis, meanwhile, has yet to win back-to-back contests this season, playing without All-Star point guard Ja Morant, who continues to serve a 25-game suspension.
The Grizzlies dropped their third straight decision, 110-89 on Friday to Phoenix in the NBA in-season tournament. It marked the third time in Memphis’ past four losses the Grizzlies fell by 20-plus points after a 111-91 rout Wednesday at Houston and 134-107 defeat Nov. 14 visiting the Los Angeles Lakers.
Santi Aldama led Memphis on Friday with 21 points, while Desmond Bane dished out 10 assists. Despite Bane’s distribution, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins called for improved playmaking from the Memphis offense.
“We’ve got to move the ball better. Still not good enough in the fast break,” Jenkins said in his postgame news conference.
“We’re missing too many opportunities to find open teammates. When it comes down to — 22 assists as a team, that’s not good enough — where we are right now, we’ve got to get it to 30-plus.”
Memphis is averaging 24.1 assists per game, fewer than all but three teams in the league through games played Friday.
Morant’s absence looms not only for the lost 26.2 points per game he averaged a season ago, but his career-best 8.1 assists per game averaged in 2022-23.
Bane has been the Grizzlies’ primary offensive option at 24.3 points and 5.1 assists per game.
Edwards is pacing the Minnesota offense at 26.7 points per game, with Towns adding 22 points a contest. The Timberwolves are putting up 113 points per game, middle-of-the-pack among all NBA teams, but almost seven more a contest than Memphis scores.
The Grizzlies’ 106.2 points per game rank second-fewest in the league through Friday’s games. They will try to solve a Minnesota defense holding opponents to 107 points a game, the fourth-lowest yield in the NBA.
– Field Level Media