Playoff Player Ratings: Game Five | Memphis Grizzlies

Wolves lose a heartbreaker.

AP Photo/Brandon Dill

If you wanted this young and blossoming Minnesota Timberwolves team to clasp their hands around playoff experience and create the necessary scars to push them further then this is it. These are those scars. The thing about scars is that they start off as bone-deep wounds, wounds that feel like they’ll never heal and, sometimes, wounds that feel like they should barely have been a scratch to begin with. This one hurts, as all wounds do, and now the backs-against-the-wall Wolves will have to hope that scar tissue forms immediately.

---

Game Recap

The game ends 109-111. It feels painful to the very tips of the fingers to type it. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been — a shot nestling instead of bouncing out here, an avoidable turnover being avoided there, a bunch of abhorrent whistles being officiated correctly. Any of those things could have been the difference, but the game is the game and those mistakes and mishaps and mere mortifying moments are now cemented in time.

Once again, it was a game nearing three hours long. A game of twists and turns and runs and droughts. The very first of those droughts came in the opening minutes for Minnesota, as they stumbled blindly out of the gates and took until an early timeout and an 11-point deficit to find a firm foothold. It was the perfect epitome of this volatile Timberwolves squad, a game that looked over before it even started switching rapidly to a game where they waltzed into the first break with a lead. They vacillate between a sloppy mess and a pint of liquid gold at the drop of a hat.

The second quarter is no less confusing and no more illuminating. Both teams traded spells of unforced turnovers and stagnant offense, with Memphis winning the shooting battle while brandishing a whopping 42.9 percent field goal clip (compared to Minnesota’s 36.4%). Those numbers kind of sum it up — both teams were tripping themselves up more than the foes on the other side of the hardwood and yet, somehow, Minnesota found themselves in front at the half and Memphis’ raucous-but-small home crowd was growing quieter.

The third period is where those fans were silenced. A pin dropping would have been deafening inside the FedExForum as the Wolves broke away from their slapdash first half and started to push away from a Memphis team whose shooting had sunk even deeper into the freezer. While Dillon Brooks and Ja Morant launched misguided missiles at the rim, Karl-Anthony Towns was finding his target and Minnesota found ways to scuttle around the key and come away with defensive rebounds. Then Ja Morant detonated an all-time stunner on Malik Beasley and the energy shifted. The building shuddered. The ending began.

And thus it was. The fourth quarter was a replay of a past fever dream. We’ve seen it before and we’ve suffered through it before and here it was again. The Grizzlies don’t go away, they never ever go away. When Towns knocked down a triple midway through the quarter and shushed the crowd with a 13-point lead emboldening him, those never-say-die Grizzlies started roaring. They forced an all-too-willing Wolves squad to play in isolation, they found ways to get Morant downhill (and the referees found a way to make sure he scored even when the open looks weren’t there) and they rebounded like a pack of hungry hyenas. They stole it. They will feel like they took it, but Minnesota will feel mugged. Empty, defeated and mugged.

*Player Ratings only apply to players who play 10 or more minutes*

---

Player Ratings

D’Angelo Russell: 4/10

Starts off like a house on fire. Burning and crackling and licking at the face of the powerless Grizzlies. But eventually fires stop raging, and when he dwindled he really dwindled. That inferno that was knocking down first-quarter triples and flicking the ball around the horn dwindled into a pile of graying ashes that spent the rest of the night slowing the pace, turning the ball over and missing the few open looks he could create for himself.

Then, to put a shitty little bow on top of a fucking terrible series, he hijacks the offense with 15 seconds left and jackknifes it into oncoming traffic. He likes to be the hero and, to be fair, he has been many times throughout his Wolves tenure, but this wasn’t the time for an isolation hero. It wasn’t the game for a mid-range fading clank. It wasn’t the series for him.

Finished with 12 points (53% TS), 2 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals with a -3.4 net rating.

---

Patrick Beverley: 5/10

Spent the night fighting a losing battle against a convoy of gullible and moronic officials. An unwinnable battle that he fights with a smile on his face and a heavy metal tune whistling through his heart valves. Whether it was a clear shove in the back that went uncalled and led to a late Ja Morant bucket, a pass-and-crash that was called for a blocking foul or Morant slipping and sliding untouched into his upright and still body, he wasn’t just getting the short end of the stick, he was getting beaten over the fucking head with the fucker.

When he wasn’t being picked on, which wasn’t very often, he never really found a way to exude his Bev-isms onto the night. He was far too involved in the first-quarter drought, he wasn’t involved enough in the fourth-quarter slump. There is something to be said about his shackling of Morant in the first three quarters, but it was a little less pronounced than the rest of the series and it fell to the wayside once he fouled out in the last quarter.

Finished with 9 points (61.5% TS), 3 rebounds and 6 assists with a +4.9 net rating.

---

Anthony Edwards: 6/10

The giveth and the taketh. The hammer and the anvil. The rainbow and the storm cloud. That’s what you get with youth. That youthfulness manifests itself in a multitude of ways — the shining talent of his forays to the rim, the bubbling potential of his pull-up triples out of the pick-and-roll or spot-up jumpers. The fucking shot — the big one. The one that almost drags his team out of the dumps. It’s full speed to his right off a hammer screen and fading over the baseline and in the eyes of a closing defender. In the most important game of his life. It’s a shot that should go down in the annals of Timberwolves history.

The thing about youth, however, is that it comes with a price. The heavy weight of inexperience. He entangles himself in all of that as well. He missed more defensive rotations than he has all series, he didn’t register a single assist and never quite looked like anything near a heliocentric force, he took a fistful of boneheaded jumpers in the fourth. And he gambled. The fucking gamble — the big one. Staying solid and taking the single instead of striking out for the homer needed the experience. Forcing Morant into a tough look comes with the scar tissue. Instead, he sells out on the final play and becomes the weak link in a chain that was smashed to pieces. Youth.

Finished with 22 points (50.6% TS) and a -2.5 net rating.

---

Jarred Vanderbilt: 4/10

What he brings is energy, hustle, rebounding and defense and what he takes away is spacing, ball-handling in the halfcourt, and shot-creation. Chris Finch is consistently waging war with those two sides of the Jarred Vanderbilt coin and he probably lost the toss in this one.

He was an enormous negative in the first half, a big fucking red flag in the middle of the sloppiness. His inability to shoot was allowing Memphis to crowd the paint and force Minnesota into jump shots, and there weren’t enough of the Vando things happening to offset it. He fought back a smidge in the second half, but he never really revved the engine to the decibel level required. In the end, Finch will probably be thinking 22 minutes may have been a few too many.

Finished with 6 points (60% TS) and 10 rebounds with a -17.5 net rating.

---

Karl-Anthony Towns: 8/10

In this series, the befuddling moments are something you have to live with. The stupid turnovers and the trash-talking that blows up in his face with hilarious accuracy every single time. The weird shot attempts and the even weirder non-shot attempts. The Grizzlies are making it really fucking tough on him, make no mistake. He’s the honeypot and they are the swarming bees.

The thing about the honeypot is that fucker is sweet, and when Towns isn’t doing the weird shit he is doing the sweet shit. He is Minnesota’s best starter on the night and he blends a welcomed uptick in 3-point frequency and accuracy with a penchant for foul-drawing and another batch of sturdy pick-and-roll and rim defense — even with the early foul trouble lurking behind every corner. He should get the ball more down the stretch, he needs to get the fucking thing more down the stretch, but he answered the call in this one, now he has to do it again.

Finished with 28 points (73.8% TS), 12 rebounds and 3 steals with a -5.3 net rating.

---

Malik Beasley: 2/10

He made a couple of shots and rebounded his position admirably, which was more than you could say for his previous outing, but it’s impossible to ignore his defensive output. All of the sugary sweetness of the points and the boards were washed away with the acidic taste of his laziness on the other end. Like a fucking ice cream laced with toilet water.

He fell asleep at least four times off the ball, allowing his man to cut behind him and force the Wolves into a scrambled rotation, and he was sliced through like a scythe through butter when he was tasked with containing ball-handlers. Thankfully for him, the Grizzlies were in a horror patch of shooting for many of his mistakes, but on another night he could have punted away a game with just his defensive output.

Finished with 8 points (47.4% TS) and 6 rebounds and a -2.8 net rating

---

Jaden McDaniels: 5/10

Not big enough. He is long and gangly, but he isn’t big enough. To be fair, constructing a roster with Karl-Anthony Towns and a bunch of wing-sized power forwards puts McDaniels under immense pressure to be a power forward, but his lack of girth, rebounding instincts and non-weakside rim-protection was a sore thumb on a mangled hand.

When he was able to switch onto guards and wings and do what he does best, he was awesome. Long and quick and laterally as sharp as a fucking tack. Able to smother Morant or chase Bane or bother Brooks. But he was put in those position far too little. Instead, he is left trying to box-out the human fucking tsunami in Brandon Clarke. In the end, he was swept away.

Finished with 3 points (150% TS), 2 rebounds and 2 blocks with a +23.8 net rating.

---

Jordan McLaughlin: 9/10

Aside from a few out-of-control drives that led to a turnover and a flailing circus shot, he was perfect. He was everything the Wolves needed and everything they didn’t get from D’Angelo Russell. He is speed amalgamated with slow. He is patience blended with frenzy. He gets everything moving while making everybody slow down and take a breath. Sometimes you can’t directly see his impact, but the whole floor just feels more stable when he is doing his thing.

Other times, however, you can see that impact. You can see the unfathomable pocket pass he zips to Naz Reid in the first half and gee fucking whiz can you see the overhead bouncing delight he spoon-feeds to Edwards for the game-tying shot. It’s that shot that’ll get the credit, that shot that’ll be the penultimate clip on the game’s highlight reel, but it’s the penetrating drive and fucking zipper that puts it on a platter. He is a little genius.

Finished with 2 points (33.3% TS), 4 assists and 2 steals with a -5.7 net rating.

---

Naz Reid: 9/10

He was really good. A stark contrast to his postseason as a whole. Where there have been bad decisions with the ball, there were quick and effective ones. Where there have been fruitless post-ups, there were slice cuts across the paint and quick slips out of pick-and-rolls. Where the defense was swiss cheese it was hard and stale brie. When Karl-Anthony Towns takes a breather, this is the Naz Reid the Wolves need.

Finished with 9 points (116.3% TS) and 2 rebounds with a +0.2 net rating.

---

Taurean Prince: 7/10

Far be it from me to disagree with Chris Finch — the man, myth and legend who told Desmond Bane and his big muscly daftness where he can stick it after the shooting guard roid-raged on the sideline — but it’s puzzling that Prince has been spotted sparingly before this game. A floor-spacer who can make plays for himself and others off the bounce and defends stoutly on and off the ball. No matter the situation, that feels necessary. Finch turned to him in this one and, despite not making a triple, added a much-needed spice to Minnesota’s blended bench lineups. Unsurprising.

Finished with 10 points (116.3% TS), 3 rebounds and 3 assists with a -13.6 net rating.

Play Of The Night

DHO Weakside Hammer for Anthony Edwards

Just when a game has melted into a sluggish bout of isolation basketball destined for desolation, Finch whips out this bad boy. Perhaps, given the circumstances, the best play of the season. Of course, the Wolves did still lose and the play won’t get all the plaudits it deserves, but don’t miss the forest for the trees. This is a gorgeous play design and Minnesota was one defensive stop away from forcing game five overtime because of it.

As Jim Petersen noted on the broadcast, this is a Gregg Popovich and San Antonio Spurs regen. A simple but effective way to get the defense moving with decoys, screens and cuts. The decoy is Karl-Anthony Towns, whose mere presence is enough to force eyes, ears, and arms toward the ball. He isn’t involved at all, though, and he simply hands the ball back to the Jordan McLaughlin (the original inbounder) who punctures the defense with his speed and sets in motion the crux of the play — the weakside hammer screen.

Once McDaniels sets the screen, all it takes is a split second of indecision from Brandon Clarke to seal Memphis’ fate (for the time being). McLaughlin makes the sumptuous dish, Edwards hits the ridiculous shot, and Finch gets a bunch of credit. It should mean more, but it still means something.