Scouting Report | Wolves at Grizzlies

The Wolves have a huge opportunity in their next few games to pick up some road wins before their schedule starts to get tougher again. However, as Interim Coach Ryan Saunders always says, the Wolves need to take things one day at a time. That starts on Tuesday night against the Grizzlies.

The last time these two teams met it took a Karl-Anthony Towns buzzer beater to get a Wolves win. Hopefully things aren’t so close this time. The Grizzlies, though they have an inferior record to the Wolves, match up well with Minnesota. Marc Gasol and Mike Conley are always a problem. Memphis plays hard and mucks games up. Getting past them is an even tougher task on the road.

However, this is a game the Wolves absolutely have to win. With 30 games remaining in the regular season, Minnesota can no longer afford to tread water in an intense Western Conference if they expect to have a shot at making the playoffs. The Wolves are currently 25-27 and will likely have to fight their way to several games above .500 to earn a postseason spot.

This isn’t the first time this year the Wolves have played the same team two times within a very short time frame. They played the Suns and the Jazz in home-and-away back-to-backs, and played the Kings twice in three games back in December. 

The Wolves are 2-1 in the second games of those sets. Playing a team twice in a short period of time has positive elements and negative ones. On one hand, it gives you a chance to refine your game plan and prepare for more specific elements of the matchup while the memory of the previous game is still fresh, but the opponent gets to do that too. In these situations, fortune favors the team that is able to make smarter adjustments.

For the Wolves, the biggest adjustment is going to be figuring out a way to get Towns more involved. Though he did hit the game winner, Towns did not play well the entire game against Memphis last week. Foul trouble was especially problematic.

The Wolves did a good job of containing Jaren Jackson Jr. in their last meeting with the Grizzlies and they’ll need to do it again on Tuesday. Jackson Jr. isn’t a polished offensive player, but he can make a difference in games with his defense and three-point shooting. If the Wolves can take him out of the game or get him into foul trouble that will make things that much easier for Towns.

It’s important that Towns and Taj Gibson go right at the rookie and dare him to defend without fouling. Gibson especially should use his veteran experience to get inside the rookie’s head. Limiting Jackson Jr. is an interesting task because it’s more of a luxury than a necessity—the Wolves definitely still have a chance to win if the rookie big man plays well, but if they shut him down Minnesota’s chances of a victory skyrocket.  

Wolves: Robert Covington (knee), Tyus Jones (ankle) and Jeff Teague (ankle) are out. Derrick Rose (knee) is day-to-day.

Grizzlies: Kyle Anderson (shoulder), Garrett Temple (shoulder), Dillon Brooks (toe) and Omri Casspi (knee) are out. 

Wolves: PG – Bayless, SG – Okogie, SF – Wiggins, PF – Gibson, C – Towns

Grizzlies: PG – Conley Jr., SG – Holiday, SF – Caboclo, PF – Jackson Jr., C – Gasol