Memphis Grizzlies: 3 keys to victory vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

The Memphis Grizzlies have to take advantage of hot stretches

We’ve seen it all year long. The Grizzlies start to get hot and go on a small run, only to let an objectively worse team right back into the game. It doomed this team against a bad Oklahoma City Thunder team a couple of weeks ago and it almost bit them in the rear against the Houston Rockets a few days ago.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are a team that is very susceptible to a blowout. They have the second-worst team (+/-) in the league at -7.8, so if the Grizzlies want a comfortable win, they’ll have to assert themselves relatively early in this game.

But asserting oneself has been a weak point for the Grizzlies. In too many games, we’ve seen this team allow inferior teams to hang around. It gives out the feeling that the Grizzlies will play up to any level of elite competition, but play down to the league’s bottom feeders.

If I had to make a prediction, I’d say the Grizzlies play the Timberwolves close. They haven’t given us any reason to believe that they can get a blowout win. Unless somebody steps up, we’ll be on the edges of our seats for 48 minutes.

That said, if the Grizzlies are able to close this game out sooner rather than later, this could give the starters some much-needed rest.