A timeout sequence on the Wolves bench, captured in the second quarter, shows the confidence of Karl-Anthony Towns and his teammates during this Game 3 which was dominated from the opening seconds.
Inside it says: “We’re in Minnesota now. I told reporters after Game 2, we’re cool, we’re coming home. They are only good at home. †
Words that made Ja Morant laugh then, who knows the end of the story.
we are now in minnesota https://t.co/p9JPRp3wvB
—Yes Morant (@JaMorant) Apr 22, 2022
It must be said that the first minutes of this match were perfect for Wolves. They smothered the Grizzlies early on, rising to 26 points in the second quarter. A first warning before halftime, with a 15-0 for the Grizzlies, could serve as a lesson. In the second half, Minnesota drove the point home and regained a 26-point lead (79-54).
“We have to pay tribute to them. They were outplayed and kept fighting”notes Patrick Beverley at Pioneer Press† “I think once we got into the lead, we loosened up a bit. This is a lesson to learn.”
“We go home, drink wine and move on to the next day”
The Grizzlies finish the game, exactly in the last 15 minutes, with a whopping 50-13! The Memphis defense will clearly kick up a gear after the break, battling against 35 of the 39 shots from Karl-Anthony Towns and his band. “Their playing style hurt us”confesses D’Angelo Russell.
In addition, the 21-0 between the end of the third and the beginning of the last quarter cut Wolves in the legs, especially as Chris Finch wasn’t using timeouts at the time to stop the bleeding.
“We were tense” analyzes the coach. “We missed a lot of good shots. I had the impression that we were still in the game, everything was in place to win. They had the momentum on their side, but we didn’t do enough to resist. Players are clearly disappointed, but we still have Game 4 here. We won’t be influenced by a meeting, that’s for sure.”
But how to get up after such a defeat and now Wolves are 2-1 behind?
“We go home, drink wine and move on to the next day. It’s that simple, we’re going to decompress”, announces Karl-Anthony Towns, author of just eight issues, at the Commercial Profession† “We will have to remember how and why we are here. We have to build on that. It really is a heavy defeat to take. We need to regroup and be ready. †
| shots | bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| players | GM | Minimum | shots | 3 points | LF | Out | secure | early | pd | bp | int | CT | side | Points |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 74 | 33.5 | 52.9 | 41.0 | 82.2 | 2.6 | 7.2 | 9.8 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 3.6 | 24.6 |
| Anthony Edwards | 72 | 34.2 | 44.1 | 35.7 | 78.6 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 21.3 |
| D’angelo Russell | 65 | 31.9 | 41.1 | 34.0 | 82.5 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 7.1 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 18.1 |
| Malik Beasley | 79 | 25.0 | 39.1 | 37.7 | 81.7 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 12.1 |
| Jaden McDaniels | 70 | 25.8 | 46.0 | 31.7 | 80.3 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 4.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 9.2 |
| Patrick Beverly | 58 | 25.4 | 40.6 | 34.3 | 72.2 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 3.0 | 9.2 |
| Jaylen Nowell | 62 | 15.7 | 47.5 | 39.4 | 78.3 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 8.5 |
| Naz Reid | 77 | 15.8 | 48.9 | 34.3 | 76.5 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 8.3 |
| Taurus Prince | 69 | 17.1 | 45.4 | 37.6 | 75.6 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 7.3 |
| Greg Monroe | 4 | 20.4 | 59.1 | 0.0 | 42.9 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 7.2 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt | 74 | 25.4 | 58.7 | 14.3 | 65.6 | 2.9 | 5.5 | 8.4 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 6.9 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 62 | 14.5 | 44.0 | 31.8 | 75.0 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 3.8 |
| Nathan Ridder | 37 | 7.2 | 51.1 | 30.8 | 73.3 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 3.7 |
| Josh Okogie | 49 | 10.5 | 40.4 | 29.8 | 68.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 2.7 |
| Jake Layman | 34 | 6.8 | 41.1 | 22.9 | 72.2 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 2.4 |
| Leandro Bolmaro | 35 | 6.9 | 31.5 | 27.8 | 84.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| McKinley Wright | 5 | 3.8 | 66.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
| Chris Silva | 1 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
