After what many people felt was a surprise in the first game of the series between the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves, as Minnesota was able to walk away with a victory, Memphis now came back in game two and took care of business. The Grizzlies ended up winning game two by more than 20 points as the final score was 124-96.
Ja Morant didn’t necessarily have a crazy night as he finished with 23 points, but he didn’t need to do much for Memphis as they dominated the entire game.
Desmond Bane added 16 points, Jaren Jackson Jr had 16, Brandon Clarke had 13, Xavier Tillman had 13, and Ziaire Williams finished with 13 as well.
The question now is how did they lose game one and then come out and dominate in game two? What was the difference?
When looking at the box score and watching the game, it’s inevitable to notice that the Memphis Grizzlies got contributions out of more guys on the court than they did in the first game of the series.
Although Memphis does have their superstar in Ja Morant, they’re one of the deepest teams in the NBA and for them to win games at a high level as they did throughout the regular season, they have to get contributions out of some of their guys on the bench, as they did on Tuesday.
One of the other major factors of Memphis walking away with a win in game two is that they stepped up on the defensive side of the ball. Memphis gave up 130 points against the Timberwolves in the first game of the series, which is hardly ever going to win you a playoff game.
They did a great job against Anthony Edwards as he finished with 36 points in the first game of the series and then just 20 in game 2. Karl Anthon-Towns also had 29 in the first game, but then was held to just 15 in game 2.
If Memphis is going to want to continue dominating as they did on Tuesday, they have to continue defending at a high level and they need multiple guys on the court to continue being high level role players, just as they were in the regular season.
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