Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies (9-4) built a lead and played on that lead all night en route to a 114-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves (5-8) on Friday night.
The game, nationally televised on ESPN, was the first meeting between Western Conference foes since the Grizzlies knocked the Timberwolves out of the playoffs last season. Despite the best efforts of Anthony Edwards, Morant, Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks were too much as they sent the Timberwolves to their sixth loss in seven games.
Edwards scored 28 points but the rest of Minnesota’s starting lineup combined for 47 points – 15 each from Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels, 13 from Karl-Anthony Towns and four from D’Angelo Russell.
Morant led the Grizzlies with 28 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Bane scored 24 and Brooks added 21.
Memphis shot 7-of-33 from 3 but lit up Minnesota with 62 points in the paint, 40 of them in the first half. And they out-rebounded the Wolves 46-33, including 15 offensive rebounds that led to 32 second-chance points. Gobert, who leads the NBA in rebounding, had six boards in 35 minutes.
Towns fouled out with 3:09 left in the fourth quarter. He had four fouls in the first half and picked up his fifth foul early in the third quarter.
Russell was 2-of-8 shooting, including 0-of-4 from 3 and wasn’t on the floor in the final minutes of the game. He had eight assists, zero rebounds and three turnovers in 27 minutes.
Up next: Timberwolves at Cleveland, Sunday at 5 p.m.
