Back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances have firmly placed the Minnesota Timberwolves ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies in the hierarchy in the West. Just three years ago, these teams met in a thrilling first-round playoff series that saw the Grizzlies defeat the Timberwolves 4-2.
Last season, the Grizzlies were ahead of the Timberwolves in the standings for the majority of the season and held a 2-0 advantage over them in head-to-head matchups, then April 10th happened. The Grizzlies held a one-game lead over the Timberwolves in the standings with the tiebreaker to potentially avoid the play-in tournament, but allowed 52 points in the third quarter at home to Minnesota and lost the game that essentially sealed their fate as a play-in team last season.
As deflating as that loss was, the Grizzlies only finished one game behind the Timberwolves in the standings. This means the work to regain control over the team they once defeated in the playoffs isn't a far reach to achieve.
The Grizzlies must remain consistent throughout the season
Memphis held the second seed while Minnesota had the seventh seed as the teams headed into the NBA All-Star break last season. If that remained and the Timberwolves won their play-in game, the teams would've had a playoff rematch in the same scenario as 2022, as the two vs seven matchup in the first round.
The Timberwolves were the only playoff-caliber team or team with a winning record in the West last season that the Grizzlies won the season series over. Their record against the top seven teams in the West was 6-19, with a lot of those occurring during their second-half slide that resulted in them falling from the two seed to the seventh seed.
Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards has ascended to become one of the game's best players after having been the youngest player in the entire playoffs the year they lost to Memphis. Ja Morant was the rising star in that playoff series and run for Memphis, but the three years since have gone the opposite way for him due to self-turmoil and unfortunate injuries.
The Grizzlies don't necessarily need Morant to play at the level of Edwards to reclaim their edge over Minnesota, as they were ahead of them most of last season with him struggling with injuries, However, the importance of Morant to remain healthy and play like the star player he is will be needed for the Grizzlies to be consistent throughout the entire season, which would help them move past Minnesota in the West standings once again.