Timberwolves blow by Grizzlies in record-setting third quarter to win pivotal game 141-125

MEMPHIS – The first playoff game Anthony Edwards played came in his second season, in Memphis against the Grizzlies. Before that game, coach Chris Finch wondered if Edwards would try to do too much in that moment, and if it would take time for him to adjust to playoff basketball.

He didn’t need to worry. Edwards proved that day he had a sense of the moment with 36 points in a Wolves victory. Three years later, the Wolves faced what Edwards called their “biggest game of the season” against these same Grizzlies. The pathway to a top six seed and guaranteed playoff spot would open up with a win. A loss, and the Wolves would likely settle for the play-in tournament.

Edwards again rose to the moment with 44 points in a 141-125 Wolves victory, as the team bounced back from a fourth-quarter collapse against the Bucks two nights before.

“Every game we play, 82 games, is a big game. But tonight was a must win pretty much,” said Edwards, who was 13-for-19. “I just had that sense, man, and when I get that sense it’s ugly for anybody.”

It was especially ugly for Memphis in the third quarter, when the Wolves set a franchise record with 52 points to turn a five-point halftime deficit into a 22-point lead.

The Wolves are still eighth in the Western Conference standings after Thursday. But because Memphis plays Denver on Friday and Golden State plays the Clippers on Sunday, they will rise in the standings thanks to advantageous tiebreaker scenarios or losses to teams currently tied with them record-wise.

This assumes the Wolves win their final two games against Brooklyn and Utah, which isn’t a given. But when they had to have one of their best games of the season on Thursday, they delivered.

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“It’s not easy to lose a game like we did in Milwaukee and come back and find it again,” said point guard Mike Conley, who had eight points, nine assists and was a team high plus-29. “We were able to find it early in that third and our defense set the tone for the rest of the game.”

Edwards had some help on Thursday, with Julius Randle pouring in 31 points, including multiple key buckets after the Grizzlies shrank a 23-points Wolves lead to 10 in the fourth, and a potential repeat of the Milwaukee performance lingered. But Randle hit a 13-footer to put the Wolves up 131-119 with 3 minutes, 23 seconds to play, then iced the game with a three at the 1:38 mark.

“You recognize it. If the moment presents itself, you just need one bucket to just settle us down,” Randle said. “I just tried to do that. Got to the post, got to my sweet spot, trust the way from there.”

Randle and Edwards combined for 32 points in that electric third quarter, when the Wolves shot 18-for-21 from the field, 7-for-8 from three-point range. To Finch, it was the ideal game of the two playing off each other to create good offense.

“It was probably the best recognition of that, that we’d seen all throughout the game,” Finch said. “They’ve had a really good chemistry since they got here. … The production might have not always been there, but they were always looking to figure out ways to combine out there. Tonight, I thought they read the floor well with what each other were doing.”

The Wolves jumped out to a 17-3 run in the third after course correcting their defense at halftime. Memphis hung 72 on them in the first half, and they were getting into a track meet with Ja Morant (36 points) and Desmond Bane (28 points). Finch said the Wolves were giving Morant “too much of a runway” and switched up coverages on him. The coaches didn’t hold back at halftime, Edwards said, especially when it came to falling asleep in off-ball defense.

“We got cussed out at halftime, especially myself, about our effort on defense,” Edwards said. “We put emphasis on that side of the court. …

“Game plan mistakes. Myself, I’m talking about blown game plan mistakes, mental mistakes I shouldn’t be making with five years of experience in the league, I shouldn’t be making those game plan mistakes, so I got to be better.”

He and the rest of his teammates were in that third quarter as they held Memphis to 25 points and forced five turnovers. Edwards was 5-for-5 in the third, and that included three threes, two in a row during one spurt that sent a shiver through the crowd. The Wolves were on their way to a win, even after giving back some of the lead in the fourth.

There’s still work to do. Two games the Wolves should win, and they’ll have to make it through Friday after landing late in Minnesota. What has to be the approach?

“Be professional,” Randle said. “Recover, take care of your body, get some sleep, get some rest, come in with the right mindset tomorrow and take care of business on our home court and we’ll be fine.”

They will be if they can win each game. The playoffs are within reach, and Edwards is back in playoff mode just in time.

“I put the work in,” Edwards said. “Don’t be shy now, it’s the moment. It’s the moment I’ve been working for, the time I’ve been waiting on, I shouldn’t be scared now.”