Player grades: Grizzlies blitz Timberwolves in Game 2 to tie series

Tuesday night’s Game 2 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies showed the importance of playing in attack mode.

Player grades: Grizzlies blitz Timberwolves in Game 2 to tie series

The Wolves won Game 1 in part because they answered every potential Memphis run with a momentum-killer. They weren’t as adept at quelling those stretches Tuesday, as the Grizzlies ran the Timberwolves out of Memphis 124-96 to send the series back to Minnesota tied 1-1.

The Grizzlies looked much more like the team that led the NBA in points in the paint during the regular season, bludgeoning the Wolves 60-34 in that category. That energy fed into the other areas of the game, as Memphis held Minnesota to 64 points in the final three quarters and shot 7-of-18 from three in the second half.

Minnesota, on the other hand, had more manic energy, and not the good kind: The Wolves were sped up on offense — they only shot 39.5 percent on the night — and too slow to their defensive spots against the hard-charging Grizzlies.

After a 41-minute first quarter that saw 33 combined free throws and more fouls than made field goals, Memphis found its rhythm in the second frame behind a combination of downhill offense and sticky perimeter defense that it maintained throughout the remainder of the game. The Grizzlies shut down all driving lanes and turned stops into highlights that got the FedExForum crowd hopping.

“Our offense just dried up,” head coach Chris Finch said on Wolves Live Postgame “The shot selection in the second quarter basically started the avalanche to them getting out. They beat us up on the offensive glass a little bit in the second quarter, too, and that’s really where the game was won.”

Memphis’ reserves were key not only in expanding the lead from one point to 11 at halftime, but in maintaining a healthy cushion afterward. Xavier Tillman, who got a “DNP-Coach’s Decision” in Game 1, showed he could be a defensive answer to Towns’ mobility while maintaining the offensive rebounding edge so core to the Grizzlies’ identity. He, Tyus Jones, Brandon Clarke and Ziaire Williams combined for 49 of Memphis’ 60 bench points.

Splitting the first two games on the road is a good result for Minnesota overall, but this game presented serious questions that the Wolves will need to answer.

“We’re trying to win a series here, so we want to get as many games as we possibly can. I don’t care where they come from,” Finch said. “Obviously this team came out and wanted it more tonight. We gotta turn the tables on Thursday.”

Here are player grades from the blowout.