Colin Rafferty –
Your Memphis Grizzlies got off the snide and took down the Minnesota Timberwolves last night, 137-128.
Scoring 30 points in every quarter, the Grizz were on it last night and it showed. As the fans gathered inside FedEx Forum we all wondered what would come of this game.
As it progressed you could feel the anxiety in the building, the fans were expecting to see it fall apart at some point, but it didn’t.
The Grizzlies were able to force just enough bad shots and keep the T-Wolves from building momentum and taking the game. As Pete Pranica said on Saturday, when teams get two games back-to-back the second game gets chippier and the officiating comes out.
That was definitely the case last night, the Grizz jumped out on the Wolves with the help of some foul calls and tech’s early on. It seemed to level out, then get more intense as the game came to a close.
Fans and players weren’t happy about calls all throughout the night, but that didn’t stop the Grizz from walking out with a well-deserved, hard-fought win.
Jaren Jackson Jr. led the way with a 30 point and 6 rebound night, and just like in his first game back, Ty Jerome put up 19 pts, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds.
Jerome has quickly become a fan favorite, he is confident with the ball, knows where and what he is going to do, and has a good command of the offense, even if he hasn’t played that much.
Jaylen Well, brother keep that afro going, the past few games he had his hair braided, and while I think anything he does is good, during the braided era he wasn’t playing all that well.
Tonight was different, the hair was flowing and he put up 18 pts, 4-5 from three and 6-9 from the floor. He was hitting shots from deep, getting to his spots, and making them count.
Cedric Coward didn’t shoot all too well, but they got the win and he had an emphatic dunk with under 2 minutes to go. He rocked the rim and the crowd went wild.
The second unit did what it has done most of the year, come out and provide good minutes and putting up points. They would finish with 52 points, a good day for the boys coming off the bench.
Vince Williams Jr. and Cam Spencer added 16 pts, with GG Jackson providing 13 pts and 8 rebounds.
Boy, is it fun watching GG Jackson play, I know at the beginning of the year I wasn’t quite sold on whether or not to keep him, but he has shown in his last 6 games that he is true contributor and someone that they will want to have moving forward.
He is getting to the rim, hitting shots from deep, finding open players, and playing with a lot of effort and heart. Thank you, GG, the city loves you.
The Grizzlies were able to shoot 50% from the field and 46% from three, those numbers usually make out to a win and they did.
The Timberwolves were led by Anthony Edwards’ 39-point, 7 rebound, 3 assist night. He was helped by Jaden McDaniels who put up 29 pts, and Dante DiVincenzo’s 21 pt night.
The Timberwolves have a good team; the shots just didn’t fall last night and the Grizz capitalized.
From what was an outstanding performance the previous game, the Timberwolves looked like they had too much of the best comfort food around here in the Midsouth.
They outrebounded, had more assists, and even though they had 1 more turnover than the Wolves (10-9) they were able to only concede 9 pts off those turnovers. They were getting back in transition, playing the passing lanes, and just overall playing smart basketball with luck of hitting their shots.
There was a pop in the crowd when Mike Conley hit the floor, as Grizz fans await to see when he will hang it up so he can join his rightful place amongst the Core Four high in the rafters of FedEx Forum.
After dropping 6 straight, the Grizz got the win and now go on the road for a 5-game road trip.
Maybe they can build some momentum with this, maybe not. The truth is that when they don’t have their players healthy, it is hard to win in this league. Well, they are getting relatively healthy now, maybe that will springboard them into a nice run of wins.
It all starts with one.
Photo Credits: Justin Ford/Getty Images
Ty Jerome seems to have given this team a little life and that is huge. If they can continue to put more healthy bodies out there, they have a good make up of a team that can do some damage, but they may have dug themselves in too deep.
Regardless last night was a fun night and everyone who was inside FedEx Forum and watching over Peacock had a good game to view.
Ty hitting some crazy and 1 opportunities, Cedric and GG rocking the rim, while Jaylen hit three’s and made it difficult for his guys to get to the rim.
Let me give a quick shout out to the performers last night as well, the Stax Academy singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was beautiful, and the America’s Got Talent group CitiLimitz belting out the National Anthem. Steve Ray Ladson killed it as the house band as well.
It was a great showing for the NBA’s celebration of Black History Month.
Those dudes hit their harmonies with ease and style, even GG Jackson was feeling it as the players stood at the free throw lines.
The Grizz will head out of Memphis on way to Sacramento before playing a back-to-back in Portland. The Beale St. Bear’s have already beaten the Kings twice this year as well as getting one win over Portland.
Those games were back when the Grizzlies had Zach Edey, the Kings are the worst team in the NBA with only 12 wins this season, and the Trailblazers hold the 10th spot right in front of the Grizzlies, up by 3 games. They could erase that and jump them into that spot with these first few games.
That would be huge, just in terms of how you want to finish the season, they could be in for a nice run.
What that ultimately entails is that they will be in the play-in tournament and be the road team. If they have Zach Edey, Ja Morant, and Jaren Jackson Jr. still on the team, that wouldn’t be such a bad spot.
They would be one of the teams that you wouldn’t want to face, they could easily find themselves getting into the playoffs at that point, what they do from there is a mystery, but I believe that this team isn’t quite done yet. At least I hope not, trade rumors have subsided for the most part, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still looking.
Jaren Jackson Jr.’s name has been in a few “reports” as a potential trading piece, and I shudder at the idea that they would wipe clean this team and get rid of both Jaren and Ja. I think the move would be to keep them and find a new coach.
This team has shown some heart, and the bench squad is one of the best in the league. Sure, they haven’t won a lot of games, but they have been battered since last year, why give up on it now.
We have yet to see the full capabilities of this team.
I digress, but the important thing to note is that the Grizzlies snapped a losing streak and hopefully found some good with the addition of Ty Jerome back in the lineup.
The Grizzlies will be back in action on Thursday as they take on the Sacramento Kings inside the Golden 1 Center.
Go out there and shut off that beam!
Leave a Reply