NBA — Wolves 111, Grizzlies 100: Full effort Minnesota regains .500+

As frustrating as it may be, there’s one thing you can expect from this Minnesota Timberwolves team. As head coach Chris Finch often says, they can beat anyone and lose to anyone. Thankfully, the Wolves were in the mood to ‘beat them all’ against the Memphis Grizzlies tonight.

Seriously, this team is lazy enough to take on the Houston Rockets or the Detroit Pistons, but we knew they were ready to go tonight. It was D’Angelo Russell who made the move. Russell set the tone for Minnesota by scoring 12 of 19 points in the opening frame. D’Lo put in a perfect performance as his guard on points for the Wolves as he added eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. It’s no coincidence that he was the team’s best +12 in the game.

Russell had help, mostly in the form of Anthony Edwards and Kyle Anderson.

Edwards’ game is starting to slow down, but this is fun to watch in real time. He’s learning how to trust the ball to find him. He forced his two isolations his jumper at the end of the third quarter, but everything else came very easily, in the offensive flow. He just let the game go and still he posted 25/7/7 and was +10. Dillon Brooks is a legitimately good wing he’s a defender and doesn’t care about Ant at all.

Ant’s night was generally quiet, not to mention that Ant and Jaren Jackson Jr. faced each other at the rim, losing to Edwards by knockout in round one.

When it comes to Kyle Anderson, it’s really hard to find words to describe how great it was that he signed with free agency. Memphis dared him to shoot and he shot. Anderson scored 23 points on his 9-16 shooting, including his 4-7 on threes. SloMo’s jumpers cannot be taken lightly.

Jokes aside, Anderson is a pretty good safety valve for this team. If a team puts a 2 on the ball with Ant, finding Anderson holding the number in the middle of the floor is a surefire way to win the bucket easily. He moves the ball on purpose and his teammates clearly trust him. Anderson’s play allows Ant and Dilo to comfortably let the ball off in critical times, knowing that Anderson will find them when the opportunity presents itself.

Those three were the stars of the night, but we also have to give Rudy Gobert and Jayden McDaniels credit for connecting on the night.

You know things are going well when Rudy is throwing an exaggerated no-look dime.

But my favorite part of the night was how this team came out offensively and didn’t back down. I didn’t shy away from him. Instead, they took a direct hit on him. Edwards got him in the first quarter and Nas his lead got him late in the game.

You always have to be smart when challenging such elite defenders, but it says a lot about their mindset of being ready to hit the rim no matter who gets in their way.

In terms of the big picture, this was a reminder that there are still really good teams out there somewhere here if they can take advantage of it. , beat one of the best teams in the league. They’re learning how to win together (he won 10 of his last 14) and even with Karl-Anthony Towns back, some of the things they’re doing are sustainable. I feel that it is something

The connection between Anderson and Gobert has gone nowhere, and the backcourt seems to have learned how to divide ball-handling responsibilities appropriately. They’re all on display tonight and will be very important as the team tries to push their way up the standings in the coming weeks.

You can feel the confidence of the players. This group is still prone to some daunting mistakes, but the whole recent play has been pretty encouraging, especially given their ongoing reinforcements. returned beyond. Against the Sacramento Kings he had two big chances.