The Minnesota Timberwolves ended their first-round streak against the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday night with a nerve-racking 119-118 win in Game 4 in Minneapolis. The series is now being moved back to Memphis with everything tied at 2-2.
Karl-Anthony Towns was Game 4 history and made up for a disappointing performance in the previous game by recording 33 points and 14 rebounds on 8-for-17 shooting while hitting 14 of 17 from the free throw line. Anthony Edwards bounced back from a brief injury scare in the first quarter and amassed 24 points on 4-on-8 3-point shooting.
Desmond Bane kept Memphis afloat for most of the evening as several Grizzlies struggled badly to finish with 34 points in 8-on-12 3-point shooting with a high 34-point score. Dillon Brooks added 24 points while Ja Morant struggled from the field for most of the evening but finished with 11 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds.
Here’s a few takeaways from Saturday’s game, along with a recap of our live updates.
The cities are recovering
Virtually no star in these playoffs has received as much criticism as Towns after his puzzling performance in Game 3, in which he scored just eight points from four field goal attempts and conceded five fouls. He had to answer on Saturday, and boy did he ever do that.
Towns aggressively exited the vault, refusing to settle for jumpers and going to the lane to pull free throws. Wolves coach Chris Finch said afterwards that Towns played “sour and loose”. Most free throws Towns ever attempted in a playoff game was eight, and he more than doubled that number in Game 4.
These weren’t empty calorie numbers either, as Towns did much of his damage late after the Grizzlies were pushed back. He scored 13 points with 4 of 5 field goals in the fourth quarter and made two game-winning free throws by 4.4 seconds.
The Timberwolves have to be happy with their star’s performance on Saturday and it could give the team some momentum if they return to Memphis for Game 5.
Hard night for yes
Morant came into the game with a career playoff average of 27.8 points and looked at a loss for most of the evening when it came to creating his own offense. He’s done a great job with 15 assists, but the lanes he usually finds to the basket just didn’t come around often, and when he got to the edge he struggled to get through Minnesota’s athleticism and length.
“I’m not right now,” Morant said after the game. “I don’t play over the edge.”
Adding to his difficulty scoring, Morant struggled with nasty problems for most of the evening, resulting in him playing just 33 minutes (he played 40 minutes in Game 3). The wolves also attacked him relentlessly on the other end as they have for most of the series, draining Morant’s energy and causing the nasty problems.
Like Towns, Morant will be looking to hit back in front of his home crowd in Game 5.
JMac from scratch
We saw it again and again in the playoffs. They’re in charge of the stars, but usually there’s one or two role-players in each game who make the difference. On Saturday, that player was Timberwolves substitute Jordan McLaughlin, who scored 16 points in 4-on-4 3-point shooting in just 14 minutes. His buckets came in big moments, too, like that 3-pointer in the fourth quarter after the Grizzlies cut the lead to five points.
It’s no secret that Minnesota relies on its three stars — Towns, Edwards and D’Angelo Russell — for the majority of its scoring, but major contributions have come off the bench throughout the year. In a game as close as Saturday night, McLaughlin’s 16 points were absolutely crucial.