Memphis Grizzlies snap three game losing streak; Beat Minnesota Timberwolves 85-80: NBA Recap
A low scoring night with few turning points was witnessed in Memphis and after a hard fought match, the host Memphis Grizzlies claimed victory over Minnesota Timberwolves, 85-80. With the win, they snapped a three game losing streak
and also halted the Wolves three game winning streak.
The home side held the upper hand in the first quarter. Minnesota shot a respectable 45% in the opening frame but that was not enough to save them from falling behind as Memphis capped off the segment with 26-21 lead.
The second quarter was a low scoring affair. The T’Wolves went ice cold in this segment and missed 18 of their 21 shots, scoring only 13 points. The hosts capitalized and put themselves further ahead by adding 18 in the same period
and at halftime the Grizzlies were up with a 44-34 lead.
With an early 8-2 run in the third quarter, Memphis augmented their lead further, to 16 points, with 09:48 in hand. The struggling Timberwolves then countered with a 10-0 spurt, clawing down the deficit to 56-50 with 4:02 left
in the frame.
To their dismay though, the Grizzlies put together another run, 8-0, to regain a position of strength and went into the final quarter on top, 66-54.
The last 12 minutes of the game were mostly dominated by T’Wolves as they strived to reduce the gap. The away side came out firing with an early 9-2 burst, which trimmed down the deficit to 10 points. They couldn’t however stop
the flow of points at the other end and the Grizzlies continued to score.
Despite the fact that the visitors managed 26 points in the last quarter and held the hosts to 19, it couldn’t suffice to overcome their early shortcomings.
The Memphis Grizzlies thus recorded their 8th home win, 85 – 80.
Quincy Pondexter, who replaced the injured Tony Allen, came up with his career best performance for Grizzlies as he netted 17 and had 6 rebounds.
"I continued to stay aggressive. After the last few games, I was real disappointed”. Quincy said. “My teammates did a great job of finding me. I've just got to be active on the floor, getting rebounds and doing a lot of the little
things that help you be productive in these types of games. Lately, I was playing terrible. I had to find some type of way to get myself going."
Rudy g*y was also in the mix, being his usual impressive self he barely missed a double-double, scoring 19 and hauling down 9 rebounds. With 12 points each Marc Gasol and Dante Cunningham played their role in the win.
Minnesota, who stepped onto the court without their star Kevin Love, who is serving the 2nd game of his suspension, faced quite a few snags on the night.
Ricky Rubio, recently crowned NBA Rookie of the Month, was disappointing as he could only score 4 points and dish out 1 assist whereas his average for assists per game stands at 9.1.
Derrick Williams, who replaced Love in this game, was on song as he netted 13 and recorded his career high nine rebounds. Michael Beasley also had 13 points and Nikola Pekovic scored 10 while the highest scoring player for T’Wolves
was Jose Barea with 17 points.
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