Two seemingly small factors led to Timberwolves' loss to Grizzlies

Saturday night featured a thriller at Target Center that ultimately ended in a close loss for the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the Memphis Grizzlies in town, the Wolves had a chance to earn their fourth consecutive win but ultimately came up short against their Western Conference rivals, falling 127-125 after Ja Morant hit a game-clinching layup in the closing seconds.

This was a game that more than lived up to the hype. The contest came down to the final shot but it was also close throughout the night. Neither team led by more than six points at any point in the game. Minnesota got incredible contributions from Donte DiVincenzo, Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid. McDaniels made several clutch plays in the fourth to give the Wolves a chance to win.

But what ultimately ended up doing Minnesota in was their inability to rebound and take care of the ball. They allowed Memphis to outrebound them by 11, and committed five more turnovers than the Grizzlies. It was these seemingly little mistakes that snowballed and kept the road team in the game until the end, when Morant delivered in the clutch.

Rebounding and turnovers doomed Minnesota

The Timberwolves' struggles in these specific categories played a big part in the Grizzlies getting a significant amount more opportunities to score the ball. Memphis took 25 more shot attempts than Minnesota, and this was the first thing Chris Finch mentioned during his postgame press conference. "They got up 25 more shots than we did," Finch said. "You're just not going to beat many teams, particularly good ones, if you give up 25 more shots."

At the end of the day, that is really all this game came down to. You can look at other lineup decisions and specific things that happened throughout the contest, but the fact is that the Wolves gave themselves a chance to win. Had they wiped out these particular shortcomings and had Memphis taken even five less shots than they did, you would have to think Minnesota walks out of Target Center with a win.

Looking at other areas on the stat sheet, the Timberwolves shot 12% better than the Grizzlies from the floor and racked up 12 more assists as a team. When you do that while playing at home, that usually means you did enough on offense to win. It was certainly an above-average offensive performance for this squad in particular.

But giving away possessions, as Finch says, is eventually going to come back to bite you, especially against a deep and talented team like Memphis. Minnesota's process right now clearly still needs some tweaking, and Saturday night was the latest example.