Final: 108-98
With the game on the line, the Wolves again turned to Big Al. After both teams traded baskets to a 93-93 tie, Jefferson powered his way to the basket for a 3-point play and 96-93 lead. On the next Minnesota possession, Jefferson drained a 16-foot jumper to extend the Wolves lead to five points. Minnesota would never look back on its way to victory number six on the season. Jefferson finished with 38 points, 16 rebounds to lead Minnesota while Mayo led the Grizzlies with 23 points. Memphis dropped to 10-21 on the year and the Wolves have won two of their last three games.

More postgame coming soon…

Fourth Quarter: 89-89
A heated final quarter featured a duel between Love and Mayo. Both players traded baskets in the final minutes as Minnesota battled back from a five point deficit with 2:49 left in the game. Jefferson then took over with crucial scores to give the Wolves a two-point advantage. Mayo would then answer with 27.6 seconds left in the game. The third overall pick backed down Ollie and hit a jumper over the veteran Wolves guard to tie the game at 89-89. In the final seconds, Ollie tried to get the ball to Jefferson in the post but the Grizzlies did a great job denying the pass. With time ticking down on the shot clock, Foye forced a fadeaway jumper that hit the back rim. This will mark the third overtime game of the season with the Wolves losing the previous two extra period games to San Antonio and Golden State.

Third Quarter: 65-61 Grizzlies
Gomes started the quarter with a jumper to break a cold shooting streak from the team. Jefferson pulled the Wolves within one point at 7:30 but the Grizzlies answered quickly with a jumpshot from Mayo to extend the lead to three. Mayo is joined by Gay, Gasol and Lowry with double-figure points on the night. Both teams have scored 32 points in the paint. For Minnesota, Jefferson continues to lead the team in scoring with 19 points.

Halftime: 39-32 Grizzlies
The hot shooting Minnesota enjoyed in the first quarter quickly disappeared in the second period. The Wolves finished the quarter 1-for-16 and the field goal percentage dropped to 39.4 percent. Surprisingly, Minnesota launched 12 3-point shots in the half and did not connect on a single attempt. In the battle of the rookies, Love has scored five points, all from the free throw line. Mayo returned to the game with under four minutes left in the half. He nailed a fadeway jumper to give the Grizzlies a 32-31 lead at the 2:37 mark. Mayo then diced through the lane on back-to-back possessions to finish with eight points. Gay leads the Grizzlies with 13 points at halftime as Memphis improved its field goal percentage to 43 on the night. With only eight points in the quarter, the Wolves will need to generate scoring from Foye and Jefferson to top the Grizzlies.

First Quarter: 24-19 Wolves
The Wolves used a hot 7-for-7 start to build a 20-13 lead through eight minutes of the first quarter. With all eyes on Mayo, the shooting guard missed his first shot and faced a focused Minnesota defense. Foye is face-guarding Mayo to force Memphis to look for other scoring opportunities. Mayo is 2-of-3 from field with four points in the quarter and provided the highlight of the first period. Showing his basketball IQ, Mayo went backdoor on the face-guard from Foye and then hit a reverse layup. The Target Center crowd did not know whether to cheer or boo the No. 3 overall pick. Jefferson led the Wolves with ten points and Craig Smith dished out five assists. Minnesota finished the quarter shooting 70 percent from the field while the Grizzlies struggled at 36 percent.

Pregame News and Notes: 6:30 PM
Miller’s status for tonight is probable with the ailing ankle. McHale did not know if Miller is quite ready for game action after tweaking the ankle in the loss to Houston over a week ago.

Tonight is an opportunity for Wolves fans to watch Mayo in person after the team traded his draft rights to Memphis. Hindsight is 20/20 and it’s easy to look back to the draft with regrets surrounding the trade that landed Love in Minnesota. However, the team already invested in the backcourt with Telfair and Foye returning for 2008-09. Mayo is an extremely talented offensive player but it’s too soon to make a judgment on the deal. Love may struggle for a longer period of time because of his position on the floor. Big men historically need more time to develop as opposed to guards. Time will only tell if the trade was a success for the Wolves. Unfortunately for fans at the Target Center tonight, Mayo will look like the runaway winner for Rookie of the Year honors. Just remember, patience is a virtue and Love could win the marathon not the race.

Grizzlies Shootaround Audio
O.J. Mayo

Marc Iavaroni

Wolves Shootaround Audio
Kevin McHale

Scouting Report
Fans will look back to the 2008 NBA draft to measure the success of the Grizzlies and Wolves. Last June, Minnesota decided to trade the third overall pick O.J. Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker, and Greg Buckner to Memphis. In return, the Wolves received the fifth overall pick Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins. Both teams are struggling through the first quarter of the season but have the future talent to jump out of the offseason lottery and eventually land in the playoffs. At 10-20 on the year, Memphis ranks near the bottom of the league in scoring at 94.7 points per game. The Grizzlies also allow nearly 100 points a game with a defense that is surrendering a 47.5 field goal percentage from the opposition. On Saturday night, Memphis fell to the Spurs 106-103 in overtime and is now just 2-12 on the road.

Mayo is proving to be one of the top rookies in a class that features No. 1 overall pick Derrick Rose and No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley. The talented guard out of USC is displaying a great ability to score points and leads all first-year players at 20.1 points per game. The pre-draft debates surrounded Mayo's position on the floor as a point or shooting guard. The Grizzlies have elected to move Mayo to the two spot on the floor next to Kyle Lowry, who starts at the point guard position. Mayo is a scoring machine by hitting 41 percent from the 3-point line and 46 percent from the field. Lowry played with Randy Foye at Villanova and was considered a top-notch defensive point guard coming out of the draft. The 2007 fourth overall pick, Mike Conley Jr. comes off the bench and is starting to regain his confidence as a reserve. Memphis sits at the bottom of the league in assists and lacks the pure point guard to share the basketball.

In the frontcourt, Memphis was pleased to fill the void left by Pau Gasol with his brother, Marc Gasol. At the center position, Gasol holds a similar skill set as Pau but with powerful post moves. He started in place of the injured Darko Milicic in the loss to the Spurs and produced 15 points and 10 boards. Gasol showed a promising future in the league earlier this season with 27 points and 16 rebounds against Golden State. Rudy Gay will start at the power forward position tonight for Memphis. The former Connecticut star can jump out of the gym as evident in his appearance in the 2008 Dunk Contest. This year, Gay will return to the competition against Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson. Gay's 19.6 points per game is three points better than his career average. Most teams would play Gay at the small forward spot but he should find success by taking defenders off the dribble with his speed and length.

Projected Starters
Memphis
Kyle Lowry, PG
O.J. Mayo, SG
Quinton Ross, SF
Rudy Gay, PF
Marc Gasol, C

Minnesota
Kevin Ollie, PG
Randy Foye, SG
Ryan Gomes, SF
Craig Smith, PF
Al Jefferson, C