NBA: KAT unnerved – Gasol dominates in Minnesota

The Memphis Grizzlies (10-5) remain one of the big surprises of the current season. At the home strong Minnesota Timberwolves (7-10) the team around Marc Gasol and Mike Conley won convincingly with 100:87 (BOXSCORE). Especially Wolves star Karl-Anthony Towns had a hard time against the hard defense of the guests.

Karl-Anthony Towns last blossomed after the trade of Jimmy Butler, but the first quarter reminded again of old times. The center was quickly annoyed by Marc Gasol and struggled with the referees, who did not give KAT any whistles. But the Big was not the only player who had some problems (in the offensive). Both sides defended hard, the odds were accordingly in the cellar.

Derrick Rose and Dario Saric gave the Wolves a small boost at least towards the end of the quarter, and the hosts led them 20-17 after twelve minutes despite 8 ball losses. Turnovers followed the hosts, the aggressive defense of the Grizzlies annoyed the Wolves again and again, Dario Saric conceded among other things a technical foul.

But Memphis did not offer offensively either. Only Mike Conley had some light moments and did his team’s game incredibly well. So it was not surprising that the Grizzlies had their best phase with their Point Guard at the end of the first half and went into the break with a 47:43 lead.

After the change, Towns was finally in the game, but the Wolves’ game continued to falter. There was little movement, a lot of one-on-one, which made it quite easy for Memphis. A triumvirate from Gasol in the middle of the third quarter then gave the visitors the first two-digit lead, Minny needed a time-out after the 8-0 run.

But there was no improvement, Gasol anchored the Grizzlies-Defense exemplary and Minnesota had to take a lot of well defended jump throws, which didn’t fall that evening. Especially the backcourt from Jeff Teague (2 points, 1/9 FG) and Andrew Wiggins (14, 6/18) didn’t want to succeed much, only D-Rose fought back in this phase (62:75).

At least there was another rebellion, three of Robert Covington and Saric pushed the gap back into the single digits. The Croatian was hot now and hit three distance throws in a row, but Gasol always had the right answer, even from a distance. Garrett Temple then 90 seconds before the end with a deep threesome provided the Dagger (83:96).

Gasol (26, 8/13 FG, 4/7 threes, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Conley (18, 9 assists) were the dominant figures among the guests, but backup playmakers Shelvin Mack (12) or No.4-Pick Jaren Jackson Jr. (13, 3 blocks) also did their job well to well.

This was rather not the case with the Wolves. With the exception of Rose (18, 6/11 FG), Robert Covington (15, 4/8 threes) and Towns (13, 20 rebounds, 4 TO), no player of the host team reached normal form in a Wolves team, which only sank 39 percent of its throws and on top of that incurred 20 ball losses.