What went wrong in Minnesota's epic collapse against Memphis?
The Minnesota Timberwolves looked destined to reclaim their series lead over the Memphis Grizzlies as Karl-Anthony Towns and Co. held a 26-point lead in the third quarter Wednesday.
But in a matter of minutes, Minnesota's game-long dominance crumbled as Desmond Bane's 3-pointer capped off a 21-0 run for the Grizzlies, who would go on to win 104-95 and claim a 2-1 advantage in this Western Conference first-round postseason matchup.
Embarrassing, disastrous and indictable were just a few of the adjectives the "First Things First" crew used to describe Minnesota's collapse on Thursday, with Nick Wright, Kevin Wildes and Chris Broussard taking shots at the Timberwolves' performance.
"This is on the Timberwolves," Broussard said. "Whenever you have two 20-point leads — not one, but two, in different halves — you have to win. I give the Grizzlies all the credit in the world for displaying heart resiliency, toughness, all that teamwork, but it's still on the Timberwolves."
The Timberwolves opened up an equally imposing 51-29 lead in the first half, with Patrick Beverley leading the way with 12 first-half points and excellent team defense, limiting Grizzlies star Ja Morant to just three points. Then in the second quarter, Minnesota went ice-cold on the offensive end, failing to score in the final 5:45 of the period and allowing Memphis to close the deficit to seven with a 15-0 run.
These brutal stretches were defined by poor offensive execution, lazy turnovers and silly offensive fouls, with Broussard condemning T-Wolves coach Chris Finch for not calling a timeout to break up either run.
"The reason is Chris Finch," Broussard said. "He's done a good job coaching that team this year. But the 21-0 run, no timeout. 15-0 to end the second quarter, no timeout."
And with the Timberwolves searching for a run-stopping basket, one name came up surprisingly absent in the box score: Karl-Anthony Towns. The longtime Minnesota star has been the fulcrum for the team's offense since 2015, but failed to make an impact in his most important game wearing green and blue, scoring eight points off just four shots.
Finch attributed this lack of production to Memphis' swarming defense; but Wildes, who defended Towns, Beverley and the T-Wolves from mass media scrutiny after their play-in celebrations and picked Minnesota over the second-seeded Grizzlies, felt betrayed by the big man's costly no-show.
"I'm embarrassed to be a Wolves fan," Wildes said. "Karl-Anthony Towns, I believed in you. Old KW and JJ Reddick were the only ones in your corner saying, ‘You know what, they care.’ Then what do you do last night? You shoot the ball four times. I don't care if you're getting swarmed."
With Towns struggling and Beverley managing just two points in the second half, the bravado and confidence displayed by Minnesota's veteran leaders seemed to disappear through the second half and in the postgame press conference on Thursday night. Wright chastised Towns for shooing away valid questions from the media following the Wolves' collapse, and argued that the trash talk Minnesota exuded entering the series could be impacting their performance and focus.
"That is an indictment on Beverley, who is, dare I say, believing his own hype," Wright said. "And it's an indictment on Karl-Anthony Towns, No. 1 pick in the draft, seven years into his career, All-NBA player. He was a no-show and was a total flake after the game, next questioning people on totally legitimate points."
The Timberwolves have an opportunity to mend things with their home crowd Saturday, taking on the Grizzlies in Game 4 at 10 p.m. EST.
