The Memphis Grizzlies continue to impress in the early portion of the season, but a tall task lies ahead in the Minnesota Timberwolves.
A lot has changed since April 9th for both the Memphis Grizzlies (9-5) and Minnesota Timberwolves (7-9). This was the last time these two clubs faced in the NBA’s regular season.
The last time Memphis played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Grizzlies were one game away from finishing the 2017-18 season with a record of 22-60. The injury-riddled season was thankfully coming to a close. It was the end of seven consecutive seasons of clinching a playoff berth.
On the Timberwolves’ side, the multi-tier relationship between Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, and the Wolves organization flared many times and was only recently resolved. This spat went on for months during the offseason and led Minnesota to starting the new season on shaky ground.
Heading into Thanksgiving Week, both Memphis and Minnesota have plenty in which to be thankful. Sunday’s early-afternoon battle will feature Memphis enjoying success through 14 games, while Minnesota treats this matchup as an opportunity to fine-tune their post-trade rotation.
The Memphis Grizzlies were lucky in being the first opponent the Philadelphia 76ers faced (one week ago) following the rumored Butler deal. Memphis was able to play the shorthanded Sixers, but they will be taking on a fully-staffed Timberwolves roster on Sunday.
As Grizz Nation knows, Memphis is packing quite the punch right now. Within the past few days, the Grizzlies handed the Milwaukee Bucks their first home loss of the season, plus revenge was had against the Sacramento Kings.
A three-game winning streak is the goal, but the Timberwolves are firing on all cylinders. Do not allow their current losing record to do the talking. The shedding of Jimmy Butler’s contract is exactly what the team needed, or so it appears.
The Minnesota Timberwolves were riding a five-game losing streak, but swung things into the right direction over the past three contests — all wins by a minimum of seven points.
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Having landed two stellar shooters in Robert Covington and Dario Saric from Philadelphia, Minnesota has the potential to cause great problems on Sunday. Chemistry with their new components is not where the Wolves want it to be, but they are shooting 47.7% from the field over their last three games. This ranks ninth in the NBA, right behind Memphis’ 47.8%.
Digging deeper, the Timberwolves are hot from beyond the arc. Over the last three contests, they are the fourth-best team in the league at knocking down triples at 43.4%. Being as the Memphis Grizzlies have been accustomed to “over-fouling” this season (23.7 fouls over their past three games), this could be spell danger for the Grizz on Sunday.
The road has not been friendly to the Grizzlies thus far, going 3-4 up to this point. Memphis owns the NBA’s best team defense — allowing just 101.8 points per game — and this is where the Grizz cannot slouch versus a rolling Wolves club. The Grizzlies could easily get torched if Minnesota’s jump-shooters receive good offensive looks.
On the topic of team chemistry, Minnesota’s Anthony Tolliver tells Beale Street Bears “our game plans haven’t changed much team-to-team. We are trying to create a base that we can relay on.”
The T-Wolves have averaged 113.0 points over their past three matchups, and they are only allowing 103.0 in that same timeframe. This is 11.9 points better than their opponents’ season average of 114.9 points per game. For a team that is scrambling to mesh together, they are doing quite well to say the least.
Memphis already has difficulty scoring the basketball, especially on road trips. This is a potential trap game because all signs are pointing to Minnesota being a better club thriving off of momentum following the Jimmy Butler transaction. The Wolves are trending positively over the course of the past week — even more so than the Grizzlies.
Tolliver explains a similarity between the Wolves and Grizzlies by stating “we have been much of the same — not very good on the road and really good at home, so we just want to continue that trend for ourselves.”
As the Memphis Grizzlies prepare for their eighth road scenario of the 2018-19 NBA season, they cannot get too complacent on either side of the ball. Only four other NBA teams are as hot or hotter than the Minnesota Timberwolves in terms of length of winning streak.
The challenge becomes tougher with Memphis being away from their home floor on Sunday, but the return of power forward JaMychal Green will be much appreciated by the team’s frontcourt depth.
The Memphis Grizzlies will tip off against the Minnesota Timberwolves at 2:30 PM Central Time to begin their Week Six schedule. This is the first of four meetings this week, all against Western Conference opponents.