Marc Gasol, Grizzlies best Timberwolves down stretch in opener

The Minnesota Timberwolves were not, by any stretch of the imagination, supposed to win Wednesday night’s opener. Not in Memphis, not against the “grit-and-grind” Memphis Grizzlies.

Which made the final score of 105-101 that much more bearable.

The Wolves jumped out to a 7-2 lead before relenquishing a 12-3 run by the Grizzlies and finding themselves in an early hole. They fought back to take a 27-25 lead at the end of the first quarter, however, behind a good start from Thaddeus Young and a spark off the bench late in the frame from Mo Williams and Shabazz Muhammad.

Williams was on fire in the first half, making his first few shots and pacing the bench crew. The Wolves began to lose ground a bit in the middle of the second quarter, finding themselves down by a score of 53-47 at halftime.

The third quarter also started out poorly for the Wolves, but they fought back late and into the fourth quarter to tie the game and eventually take the lead in a seesaw affair down the stretch. Gorgui Dieng returned from a thumb contusion (x-rays were negative) and played a fantastic span of minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters, and Muhammad and Williams continued their solid play from the first half.

Anthony Bennett also showed up in the second half, at one point tying the game with a thundering two-footed dunk from just inside the free throw line.

There will likely be some consternation in Wolves land regarding Flip Saunders’ rotation — namely taking Bennett, Muhammad, an Dieng out of the game in the fourth quarter when they’re the group that got the team back into the game. But you’ll find no qualms from this Wolves fan.

The rotations made sense, and the “crunch time lineup” of Ricky Rubio, Williams, Corey Brewer, Young, and Nikola Pekovic made sense. The Bennett and Dieng duo had played a ton of consecutive minutes and were being worn down by Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, and Pekovic and Young are the better players.

If you’re going to make a mistake, you err on the side of playing your best players. Saunders did that, and it wasn’t why the Wolves lost the game. (Besides, if you’re going to complain about rotations and such after one close loss on the road in the opener, you’re off-base to begin with. Let the thing play out a bit.)

After a cold-blooded, step-back jumper by Young gave the Wolves a 96-94 lead with 3:00 left in the game, Mike Conley tied it up with a layup on the other end. (This is where I’ll criticize Flip — putting Brewer on Conley down the stretch was a mistake. Fantastic Wolves’ play-by-play man Jim Peterson remarked that this was smart, allowing Rubio to play the passing lanes and double the ball if needed, but Rubio is a superior on-ball defender to Brewer. Rubio’s on-ball gambles are generally responsible by nature, while Brewer’s are reckless. Brewer is at his best when playing the passing lanes.)

As the Wolves came down the court, Randolph reached in on Rubio and appeared to knock the ball out of bounds, but the official somehow believed that Rubio simply…lost the ball mid-dribble and allowed it to roll over to the Wolves bench. Rubio and the nearby Saunders were apoplectic, but the call stood and the Grizzlies had the ball with just over two minutes left and the game at a 96-96 deadlock.

The Grizzlies scored the next five points and held a 101-96 lead before Mo Williams rattled home a three-pointer from the top of the key off of some nice passing from the Wolves. After a pair of free throws from Gasol and then a pair from Young, the Wolves trailed by two points with 31 seconds on the clock.

After a timeout, the Grizzlies were in trouble at the end of the shot clock. Rubio ended up on Carter on a switch and slide just a hair too close to the veteran swingman as he launched an off-balance jumper on the left wing, nearly twenty feet from the basket. Carter elbowed Rubio in the face in the process, but the proximity of the defender and the slight contact below from Rubio was enough to earn Carter the opportunity to seal the game with two free throws, and that’s exactly what he did.

Quick Thoughts:

– Rubio was about as up-and-down as a player could possibly manage. His final line: 12 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds in 36 minutes, but he committed 7 turnovers. That’s a very high number for the Wolves’ point guard, and at least two or three were very poor, sloppy turnovers. He shot 5 of 12 from the court, but started 5 of 8 and made most of his mid-range jumpers. He guarded Conley well, and forced him into two quick fouls early in the game.

– Andrew Wiggins got into early foul trouble and only played 19 minutes, shooting 2 of 5 from the field. He scored his first NBA point on a first quarter free throw, and drained his first basket on a three from the left corner in the third quarter. He added 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist to his 6 points. Expect him to stay on the court much longer tomorrow night against Detroit.

– Credit where credit is due: Muhammad played a legitimate “bench energy” role — exactly the one I’ve been clamoring him to commit to filling. He will not be a star, and probably won’t be a starter in the NBA. But he could fill a niche as a hustle guy off the bench. He played hard and finished with a surprising 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting while pulling down 7 rebounds.

– Pekovic had a rough night, shooting just 2 of 9 from the field and failing to get the benefit of the doubt from the officials against the much more physical Grizzlies’ front court.

– Thaddeus Young was great, leading the team with 26 points on 10 of 18 shooting and adding 4 assists and 2 steals while only turning the ball over once in 34 minutes. The other veteran newcomer, Mo Williams, scored 18 points in 26 minutes off the bench while shooting 6 of 9 and dishing out 4 assists to 3 turnovers.

– All things considered, it was an encouraging performance from a young team on the road, against a playoff team in their home opener. The late loss wasn’t a surprise, but the fact that they weathered the physical storm was certainly a good sign.

Next up is the Wolves’ home opener, tomorrow night at 7:00 C.T. against the Detroit Pistons, who had a tough road contest in the Mile High City tonight and should be sufficiently drained tomorrow night. This means two things: 1) it’ll likely be a hideously ugly game, and 2) the Wolves have a real, rare chance to win on the second night of a back-to-back.

See you back here at DWW tomorrow morning for the game preview.