With several new players in the lineup, the Memphis Grizzlies held off the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-104 at FedExForum on Friday evening.
Memphis moved to 32-22 on the season and a season-high tying 10 games above .500. The Grizzlies are now 2-1 this season against the Timberwolves, who fell to 17-38 overall.
Trailing 81-73 late in the third quarter, Vince Carter sank a 73-foot field goal at the end-of-quarter buzzer, igniting a 12-3 Grizzlies run to take the lead and leading to Memphis outscoring Minnesota 33-23 in the fourth quarter. Mike Conley scored eight of his game-high 25 points in the fourth. He also dished out seven assists on the evening.
Memphis opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a tip-in layup from Chris Andersen, who was making his first appearance in a Grizzlies uniform after joining the team via trade Wednesday afternoon. Andersen capped the run with a layup off the Conley feed to give Memphis an 85-84 lead with 9:15 to play.
The Timberwolves would retake the lead, but a Zach Randolph layup with 5:07 remaining reclaimed a 92-91 lead that the Grizzlies wouldn’t relinquish. Randolph finished the night with 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting (57.1 percent) and eight rebounds. His basket started an 8-0 run, giving the Grizzlies it’s largest lead 98-91 with 3:41 to play.
Memphis went on another 6-0 run to put the Grizzlies back up seven, 106-99, with 38.1 ticks left on the clock after Minnesota got the lead back down to one. Carter got a big tip-in for the first points, and then Matt Barnes applied the other four points from the free throw line. From there Memphis took care of business at the free throw line to stifle any comeback attempt.
Carter finished the evening with a season-high 15 points with three three-pointers. His 73-footer to end the third quarter acted as a momentum shifter for the crowd and team. It was the longest shot of his career and the longest in the NBA this season.
The Grizzlies used a combination of JaMychal Green, Mario Chalmers, Andersen, Conley, Randolph, Barnes and Carter to combat the Timberwolves lineup down the stretch. Memphis’ defense held Minnesota to 2-of-17 shooting (11.8 percent) in the final frame, both of which were three-pointers, while shooting at an 11-of-21 clip (52.4 percent) themselves. The T-Wolves did hit all 17 of their free throw attempts in the final frame, and were successful in each of their 31 trips to the line on the night.
Barnes finished the game with 11 points and five rebounds. Chalmers scored 10 and added three assists and four rebounds, and Green had nine points to go along with a team-high 11 rebounds.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgui Dieng both recorded double-doubles with 11 points and 15 rebounds, and 14 points and 12 rebounds, respectively. Zach Lavine led the Wolves in scoring with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting. He was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Andrew Wiggins finished just shy of him with 20 points, 10 of which came from the charity stripe.
Ricky Rubio was held to five points and went scoreless from the field. He did have nine assists on the evening.
Grizzlies now head to Toronto to take on the Raptors for the first time this season. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. CT. Fans can catch the game on 92.9 FM ESPN, or on television with FOX Sports Southeast.
Catch the action as your Grizzlies travel to Toronto to face the Raptors on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 5:00PM. Find your channel.
The Grizzlies will return to FedExForum on Wednesday, February 24 to tip-off against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
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A different angle of @MrVinceCarter15’s 73-footer! #Vinsanityhttps://t.co/THlYZUQh0l
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— Coach Dave Joerger
— Brandan Wright</strong
On the new personality of the team We just got to play; it’s as simple as that. This is not the first time this has happened, it won’t be the last time it happens. Just get out there and play. Next man up, whoever can play has to play. We got to find a way to get it done. Every game is going to be tough like this for the rest of the year. — Brandan Wright On the ‘Grit-N-Grind’ mentality We’ve been like this since I’ve been here. We’ve got to go against adversity and keep battling. You know, scratch, claw, do whatever you’ve got to do to get a win. — Zach Randolph On playing with a chip on their shoulders Like I said, we are low missing one of our best players of the season. You know, traded off a couple of our best players. We just got to keep battling. Take one game at a time. As long as we give 100percent, it’s going to be a team win every game. We are going to need everybody to win. Everybody has to step up. — Zach Randolph Player Notes Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 25 points, seven assists and four rebounds… In the second half alone, Conley shot 8-of-12 (.667) from the field. Before leaving the game with 1:20 left in the second quarter due to a sore left knee, Tony Allen recorded nine points, two assists and one steal. From the bench, Vince Carter contributed a season-high 15 points, four rebounds and two steals, while Mario Chlamers contributed 10 points to go with three assists and three rebounds. Brandan Wright tallied six points and two rebounds in his return from a 46-game absence [right knee soreness/surgery] and played for the first time since Nov. 7 at Utah. Matt Barnes finished the game with 11 points, five rebounds and two assists to go along with a +/- of nine… The Grizzlies are 23-1 when Barnes finishes with a positive +/-. JaMychal Green tallied nine points and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds in his fourth start of the season. Chris Andersen and P.J. Hairston each made their Grizzlies debuts… Andersen recorded 11 minutes and scored four points, while Hairston notched seven minutes, respectively. Zach LaVine led the Timberwolves with 22 points with 13 of those points coming from the third quarter alone. Gorgui Dieng collected 14 points and 12 rebounds on the night, registering his 11th double-double of the season. Karl-Anthony Towns finished the game with 11 points, 15 rebounds recording his 24th double-double of the season. Andrew Wiggins added 20 points of his own, while Kevin Martin and Shabazz Muhammad each contributed 12 points from the bench.
— Brandan Wright
— Zach Randolph
— Zach Randolph
