After hot start to series, Timberwolves' Malik Beasley searches for his three-point stroke

Wolves reserve guard Malik Beasley knows it's his turn to adjust.

The Wolves are facing elimination from the NBA playoffs, trailing 3-2 going into Game 6 against Memphis at Target Center on Friday night.

One key to extend the series is for Beasley to regain his scoring touch.

Beasley made 11 of 20 shots overall and five of 12 three-pointers while scoring 30 points in the first two games of the series.

Since then? He has made seven of 20 shots and three of 10 three-pointers while scoring only 19 points in those three games, going scoreless in Game 4.

"Just working on catch and shoot, reading drives," Beasley said when asked how he's working to get himself going. "Because they're closing out hard on me. So I have to make sure if I have a shot, I have a shot. But if not, make the right play and get to the hole. They shrink the paint a lot, so get out, hit threes or hit the other guy that's open."

Teams always try to close hard on Beasley because of his three-point shooting ability. The intensity of the playoffs has taken that up a notch.

"Just like [Grizzlies guard Desmond] Bane, we don't want him making any threes,'' Beasley said. "They don't want me making threes, so I've got to play into that and learn how to make the right reads if I get the ball."

Shams Charania sat down with Wolves owner Glen Taylor and incoming owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore for an interview for the Stadium Network. During that interview Taylor and Rodriguez again stressed that when they take over the team, they intend to keep it in Minnesota.

"Let's break it down," Taylor said. "When they came to town, people said they're going to move the team away from Minnesota. It's not going to happen. I bought it to keep it here. These guys came along to keep it in the same way for the next, let's just say, 20 years."

Said Rodriguez: "One thing Glen said was important for him and [Taylor's wife] Becky, multiple times was, 'You guys are going to keep the team in Minnesota, right?' And we said, 'Yes, sir.'

"That was really important, I could just tell. The truth is there is nothing we've talked about privately that we don't feel good about discussing publicly. That's why this thing has been so seamless, so organic, so genuine. What I love is how much Glen and Becky love Minnesota, how loyal they were. They had the opportunity to see 20 different groups and we were lucky enough that they selected us. We'll never take that for granted, ever."

The question about retiring the jersey of former Wolves star and Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett was asked. "We've invited Kevin back for that ceremony a number of times," Taylor said. "So I think part of it is we're just waiting for Kevin to decide when he feels it's appropriate. Hopefully it's sooner than later."