Which brings us to Game 3 between the Wolves and Grizzlies. It’s only been three games, but I’m ready to declare this series an instant classic. These games have been awesome. The Wolves struck first and snuck out Game 1. Then the Grizzlies come right back and beat the absolute piss out of MIN in Game 2. A reminder that this is still a team that won 50+ games and was dominant all season. Could that be the win that builds some momentum for the Grizzlies as they head out to at least split on the road? That was the question we all wanted to know.
The last time the Wolves played a postseason home game was on April 23rd 2018. The last time they won a game at home was actually Game 3 on the 21st if you can believe it. It also happened to be the anniversary of Prince’s death, so you could argue the stars were maybe aligning for a huge win
and it certainly looked that way early. The thing that makes this series so exciting boils down to the matchups. That’s really all that matters in a playoff series. Regular season record doesn’t mean jack at this point. All that matters is how you match up against what stands in front of you and these two teams match up great. We’ve seen the chess moves, we’ve seen Steven Adams essentially be made useless and the Grizzlies having to adjust to that. After getting killed in Game 2, the Wolves shot out to a big 39-21 lead after the first quarter. Talk about punching first. DLo came out making everything, the Wolves barely missed (52/54%) while the Grizzlies couldn’t stop turning it over and missing every shot they took.
Things didn’t get much better in the next frame either. The lead ballooned to 26 points at one point. At this point things looked fantastic for the Wolves. But at around the 4 minute mark that the Grizzlies were able to put together a run behind some Desmond Bane buckets and suddenly they went into the break down just 7 points. That told us one of two things as we waited for the second half to begin. Was that the Grizzlies only punch? The Wolves absorbed it and were still in a good spot. Or, was that a sign that until you know for certain that the Grizzlies are dead, they’re capable of coming back.
In the third, the Wolves reasserted themselves. There were more DLo buckets
and that had to be such a great sight for Wolves fans to see. DLo is the kind of player where I wouldn’t exactly say he’s a good shooter but when he’s hot he can carry a gamne. Everything starts falling and he barely hits rim. He’s a bucket getter and a bit of a wild card. He did most of the heavy lifting in that third quarter since KAT was scoreless, but even though they pushed the lead back out to over 20, they did not finish strong. Speaking of KAT, where is he this postseason?
If he’s going to no show these entire playoffs, the Wolves have no shot. He’s too valuable to what they do to be a consistent nonfactor. For a guy so talented, he’s been completely nuetralized going back to the play in game.
With no other support of DLo and Edwards, the Wolves let the Grizzlies have a little bit of air. They closed the quarter well and started to build that momentum.
That’s the funny thing about momentum. It doesn’t take much to build it and once you have it the entire game can change. That’s exactly what happened since we got to the fourth quarter. How about the largest comeback in Memphis Grizzlies history? They kicked things off with a 24-2 run and things were tied in a blink of an eye. The Wolves couldn’t score on one end and couldn’t get stops on the other
It was an avalanche. This is the thing with young rosters. No deficit is too large to come back from and no lead is safe. What an all time collapse from the Wolves in a game they had no business losing. All they had to do was show up in the fourth quarter and they are sitting pretty right now. Instead, they lost it 37-12. Man that’s tough. I know Minnesota fans are used to pain but they don’t even deserve that. To watch dagger threes by Apple Valley legend Tyus Jones is really twisting the knife. They finished just 3-19 (1-11) over the final 12 minutes and you simply cannot do that against a team like Memphis. Remeber their close to the half, they warned these Wolves that you better make sure you bury this team or else they are going to come back and end you.
Once the time the final buzzer sounded, it became official. We had ourselves a historic collapse
To come back and take this game despite so much of your halfcourt offense looking like garbage is a huge deal for the Grizzlies. They win back the homecourt they narrowly lost in the opener and thus take over all the momentum in the series. Now they have the opportunity to return home to close this series out. That’s certainly on the table since we don’t know how the Wolves look as they recover from this collapse. Sometimes that can linger and carry over to the next game where the first time the Grizzlies go on a run you just let go of the rope. Momentum is a funny thing.
We knew this series was going to be incredible right from the opening tip of Game 1, so it should be no surprise we got another instant classic. All we can hope for is at least 4 more of these games, is that too much to ask?