On Saturday, the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised to a 131-114 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Minnesota jumped to a nine-point lead after one quarter, and the game never seemed to be in doubt.
Fast forward just two days, and the Timberwolves lost to that same Grizzlies team on Monday by the score of 137-128. The effort certainly didn’t seem to be there for much of the game, and Donte DiVincenzo made sure to point that out after the loss.
In the postgame, DiVincenzo spoke on how it seemed like the team waited until they were down by nearly an insurmountable amount before putting in full effort.
"We waited until we were down 20 to put the work into the game. It was too late by that time. We just have to respect our opponent for a full 48 and stop getting up for the big games and not getting up for the teams we have to respect night in and night out," DiVincenzo said.
Fell behind by 20 in the fourth on Monday
The Timberwolves saw their four-game winning streak come to a conclusion after falling to Memphis (the Grizzlies' six-game losing streak is now over as well). It was a defeat in which the Wolves trailed by seven after one quarter, and found themselves down by 20 with just 9:35 remaining in the fourth. The Grizzlies outscored Minnesota 14-6 to begin the final frame to essentially put the game out of reach.
After falling behind by 20, the Timberwolves outscored Memphis 36-25 for the remainder of the contest. There were very few empty offensive trips from the Wolves during that stretch. While overcoming 20-point deficits happens all the time in the NBA, it’s also rare for it to occur in the fourth quarter, and there just wasn’t enough time for Minnesota to finish off a comeback.
It was disappointing to see this kind of game from the Timberwolves, particularly on the defensive end -- and it won’t quiet rumors surrounding the team with the trade deadline on Thursday.
Trend has changed from the start of the season
For the first part of the season, the narrative surrounding the Timberwolves was that they would beat the bottom-feeding teams but mostly fall short against the upper-echelon ones.
Since December 19, Minnesota has victories against the Oklahoma City Thunder (twice), New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and San Antonio Spurs. In that time, they have also lost to the Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, and now the Grizzlies.
On Monday, Memphis was shorthanded, missing key pieces such as Ja Morant, Santi Aldama, and Zach Edey. In a tight Western Conference (the Wolves are just a half-game ahead of the seventh-place Los Angeles Lakers), Minnesota can’t afford many more losses against teams that they clearly are better than.