The Minnesota Timberwolves tied their first-round streak against the Memphis Grizzlies with an annoying 119-118 victory in Game 4 in Minneapolis on Saturday night. Now the series will return to Memphis with a 2-2 draw.
Carl-Anthony Towns was the story of Match 4, which made up for the disappointing effort in the previous game, scoring 33 points and 14 rebounds in a shootout of 8 against 17, while crossing 14 of 17 from the free throw line. Anthony Edwards returned from a brief fear of injury in the first quarter and scored 24 points in a 3-point shootout 4 to 8.
Desmond Bane kept Memphis afloat for most of the evening as a number of Grizzlies dealt fouls, finishing with the game’s highest 34 points in a 3-point shooting 8 for 12. Dylan Brooks added 24 points while Ja Morant added. struggled off the field for most of the evening, but finished with 11 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds.
Here are some excerpts from Saturday’s game, along with a summary of our live updates.
Towns is recovering
Virtually no star in these playoffs has suffered as much criticism as Townes after his puzzling performance in Game 3, in which he scored just eight points in four attempts to score from the field while committing five fouls. He had to answer on Saturday, and the boy, if ever.
Townes came out of the jump aggressively, refusing to settle for jumpers and entering the lane to draw free throws. Wolves coach Chris Finch said afterwards that Towns played “furious and relaxed”. The most free throws that Townes has ever tried in a playoff game are eight, and he has more than doubled that in game 4.
These were not empty calories either, as Townes inflicted much of his damage late after the Grizzlies returned. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter in 4 of 5 flights and made two successful free throws with 4.4 seconds left.
The Timberwolves should be happy with the performance they received from their star on Saturday, and this may give the team some momentum as they return to Memphis for Game 5.
Hard night for Ja
Entering a career playoff with an average of 27.8 points, Morant seemed confused for most of the evening when it came to creating his own attack. He did a great job of facilitating with 15 assists, but the strips he usually finds in the basket just weren’t there often, and when he got to the edge, he struggled to finish through Minnesota’s athleticism and length.
“I’m not Ja right now,” Morant said after the game. “I’m not playing over the edge.”
In addition to his goal-scoring difficulties, Morant was also in trouble for most of the evening, leading him to play for just 33 minutes (he played 40 minutes in Game 3). The wolves also mercilessly attacked him from the other side, as they did for most of the series, which interrupted Morant’s energy and created problems with bad problems.
Like Towns, Morant will try to get back in front of his audience in Game 5.
JMac out of nowhere
We have seen him again and again in the playoffs. You are responsible for the stars, but there are usually one or two role players in each game who make the difference. On Saturday, that player was Timberwolves reserve guard Jordan McLaughlin, who scored 16 points in a 4-on-4 shooting with 3 points in just 14 minutes. His buckets also came in big moments, like this three in the fourth quarter after the Grizzlies reduced the lead to five points.
It’s no secret that Minnesota relies on its three stars – Towns, Edwards and D’Angelo Russell – for most of their results, but key contributions come from the bench all year round. In a game as close as Saturday night, McLaughlin’s 16 points were absolutely decisive.
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