Grizzlies at Timberwolves Game 4

The big question heading into Saturday night’s Western Conference Playoffs contest at the Target Center is if the Minnesota Timberwolves come out angry – or demoralized? In the last five days, Minnesota has suffered a 28-point loss in Game 2 and then blew a 20+ point lead (twice) in dropping Game 3 back at home, which has allowed the Memphis Grizzlies to take a 2-1 series lead.

Memphis, on the other hand, has to be riding high. They were down 39-21 at the end of the 1st quarter on Thursday night but didn’t fret. The Grizzlies chipped away and ultimately won the game 104-95 in a hostile environment on the road. What could possibly faze this team now as they are -3 point favorites in Game 4.

Grizzlies Role Players Stepping Up

Ja Morant is obviously the face of the Grizzlies franchise, but what we’ve seen this year with Memphis going 20-5 with Morant out of the lineup is that this is a deep, well-coached team. That was evident in Game 3, with Desmond Bane leading the way with 26 points and Brandon Clarke adding 20 off the bench.

Make no mistake, Morant is still a pretty nice weapon to have. He only had 16 points on Thursday but also added 10 rebounds and 10 assists. This is coming off a 32-point performance in Game 1 and 23 in Game 2. At the very least, Morant’s constant driving to the hoop is going to risk Minnesota players getting into foul trouble.

Minnesota Not Adjusting

Karl-Anthony Towns looked like he was going to be the dominant force in this series after posting 29 points and 13 rebounds in Game 1. Instead – as a good coach does – Taylor Jenkins pulled the less athletic Steven Adams for the smaller and quicker Clarke and Xavier Tillman, and as a result, Towns has been frustrated, going just 7-11 shooting total the last two games.

With Towns either being taken out or taking himself out of the game plan, Minnesota has not gotten the surrounding support that they need. Anthony Edwards had 36 points in Game 1 but has had just 20 and 19 the last two tilts. D’Angelo Russell averaged 18.1 ppg in the regular season but is down to 14.3 ppg through three games of this series.

Grizzlies vs Timberwolves Pick and Prediction

The point spread in Game 3 was Memphis -2.5, which looking back, seemed like a gift even as the Grizzlies battled back from 20+ points down – twice. That number is just Memphis -3 again, but is the entire betting public going to be hammering that?

These two teams have gotten acquainted with each other since the Timberwolves’ 130-117 high scoring win in Game 1. Each team knows what the other wants to do, and because of that, the betting total of 232.5 seems way on the high side. Jenkins has proven to be the master adjuster for the Grizzlies, so it should be a third straight going ‘under’ 232.5 points.