Rob Dillingham provides spark, but Timberwolves fade late vs. Grizzlies with him on bench

MEMPHIS, TENN. – Rob Dillingham checked out of the Timberwolves’ 108-106 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies with 4 minutes, 29 seconds remaining and the Wolves ahead by five Monday afternoon. The rookie guard said he was tired after playing nearly all of the previous 11 minutes of game time without much of a break.

Dillingham, who was one of the few Wolves players who could put the ball in the bucket with regularity, stayed glued to the bench for the rest of the game. The Wolves saw their lead evaporate and ended up on the wrong side of a game that was theirs to win.

After Dillingham exited, Memphis reeled off the next 11 points before Naz Reid hit a three-pointer to end the Wolves’ scoring drought with 2:01 to play. But by that time, the Wolves were playing catch-up and couldn’t come all the way back. A contested, step-back three-point try from Anthony Edwards (32 points) drew nothing but air as time expired.

Dillingham finished the game with 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field to go with two assists. It continued a string of solid games for Dillingham since he rejoined the rotation after Donte DiVincenzo suffered what the team said is a Grade 3 great toe sprain. DiVincenzo will be out indefinitely as he seeks a second opinion.

“I feel like before, I was playing more nervous, I’m scared to mess up,” Dillingham, a former Kentucky standout, said. “Now it’s just like I’m just playing basketball. If I mess up, I mess up.”

Dillingham, whom the Wolves acquired with the No. 8 pick by trading up with San Antonio in last summer’s NBA draft, was 3-for-4 from three-point range and helped the Wolves build a lead as large as 16. He was a breath of fresh air on a day in which several Wolves players had trouble scoring — such as Julius Randle (2-for-13, five points, seven assists), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (2-for-10, five points) and the player who closed the game over him, Mike Conley (1-for-6, five points, eight assists). Reid provided a needed scoring pop off the bench with 29 points on 11-for-20 shooting.

Coach Chris Finch has shown a willingness this season to close with a player who has a hot hand on a given night instead of a fixed closing lineup. But he opted to go with the veteran Conley over the rookie despite the disparity in stat lines.

“I was just going with the experience,” Finch said. “Put [Conley] in for the defensive stop and just left him in to just manage the game.”

But the Wolves’ offense went flat for more than two minutes and it cost them the game.

When asked what Dillingham would have to do to earn his confidence to close games, Finch said, “He has my confidence.”

The Wolves lost on an afternoon in which the Grizzlies shot just 21% from three-point range. The Wolves weren’t much better at 33%. Edwards was 8-for-19 from the field overall, but he got to the free-throw line a season-high 18 times after Memphis rookie Jaylen Wells limited him during the teams’ previous meeting in Minnesota. Wells followed Edwards up and down the floor, face-guarding him and denying him the ball in the process.

“I let it take me out of my game last time,” Edwards said. “... I already knew I was going to be super-aggressive at doing whatever I was going to do. I wasn’t going to let him take me out of taking my shots and playing my game this time.”

But Edwards went cold from outside in those final minutes down the stretch. There was a lot that could have gone differently for the Wolves to prevent Monday’s loss from happening. After the game, Finch pointed to Rudy Gobert’s lack of rebounding as something that the team needed to change if it was going to become successful.

BOXSCORE: Memphis 108, Timberwolves 106

NBA standings

This wasn’t the first time this season Finch has spoken about the team needing Gobert to play at the peak of his powers. Gobert, who came into the game questionable because of an ankle injury, had four points and just four rebounds against one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the NBA.

“We need him to rebound at a high level. Two defensive rebounds is not enough,” Finch said. “I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job of keeping them off the glass, but two defensive rebounds [is] really not quite enough for what we need, especially with our rebound troubles of late.”

The Wolves have played the most clutch games in the NBA and are 12-16 in those games. Each game feels intense, and the Wolves’ locker room was initially quiet Monday but perked up and got more talkative as the team was getting ready to head to Dallas for a game Wednesday night. How are they handling the emotional swings of the season?

“That’s what makes it fun,” Edwards said. “We know any given night you got a chance to beat a team and there’s a chance you’re going to get beat. With all these tight games, it’s a chance to show what you’re really made of. It’s time to buckle up and get a win at the end of the game.”