Timberwolves Stars Break Down Implosion Against Grizzlies In Game 3

The Minnesota Timberwolves failed to protect two 20-plus point leads against the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 3, and both D’Angelo Russell and Patrick Beverley took it upon themselves to dissect where it all went wrong in the postgame press conference.

“They forced us to pass the ball. We were passing it, we were moving it, and then at some point, it kind of switched and, I think, that’s what hurt us the most. My style of play kind of was affected somewhere,” Russell said about their struggles in the fourth quarter.

The Timberwolves and the entirety of their home crowd at Target Center certainly felt as if a 2-1 lead was in their grasp after leading for the entirety of the game.

“We have to give them credit, man,” Beverley added.

“They came out here, they were down big. They stayed in the fight. Feel like once we got the big lead, we were kind of on our heels. This is a learning lesson. We’ll get better at that.”

The Grizzlies were able to regroup and chip away at their lead, even going on a 37-12 explosion in the fourth quarter to down the Timberwolves, 104-95.

“When we get too high, it comes back and it haunts us. In losses, we try not to get too low and things like that. When we’re making runs and doing that and we’re at home, we should be even-keeled and stay locked in,” Russell said about their fourth-quarter struggle.

The Grizzlies were led by Ja Morant, sophomore sensation Desmond Bane and big man Brandon Clarke in their bid to overcome the massive hole they dug themselves in, scoring a combined 52 points.

For Minnesota, Karl-Anthony Towns had another disappointing night after being plagued by foul trouble, ending the game with eight points and five rebounds, but also had five blocks to his name.

Russell was their leading scorer with 22 points on four-of-eight shooting from beyond the arc, while Anthony Edwards helped out with 19 points of his own.

Going into Game 4, something has to change for the Timberwolves and Beverley revealed how important their bond with each other will help them overcome their struggles.

“It’s easy to go in the locker rooms and point fingers, but this team is not like that at all. Camaraderie, staying together, enjoying adversity. No one said it’s going to be easy. We don’t want it to be easy, we want it to be extremely hard and it was. This is a playoff loss, but we can learn a lot from here and we will,” Beverley guaranteed.

“I had some couple shots at the end that I could’ve stepped up and made. I put that on me and I have to be better,” he later mentioned.

The pesky defender had 14 points himself and was staying in front of both Morant and Bane for much of the game, but it was not enough to stem the tide.

Game 4 will determine whether the Grizzlies take a commanding 3-1 lead or the Timberwolves get to stretch this series out to at least six games.