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Timberwolves

The Tyrese Haliburton era is well on its way in Indianapolis, which means it&rsquo;s likely time to say adios to Malcolm Brogdon in an Indiana Pacers uniform. Brogdon is one of the more <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/five-nba-players-who-feel-destined-to-be-traded-this-offseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obvious trade candidates in the NBA this offseason</a> thanks to his consistent injury issues and Haliburton&rsquo;s quick emergence. Despite Brogdon's missed games, he will still attract interest from rival teams.
During Brogdon&rsquo;s three-year tenure with the Pacers, he averaged 18.9 points, 6.3 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 0.8 steals per game on a 55.3 True Shooting percentage. Brogdon always produced when he was on the court for Indiana, but his availability was an issue. Going forward, it&rsquo;s going to be hard for Brogdon to shed the &ldquo;injury prone&rdquo; label because it&rsquo;s been an issue dating back to his collegiate career at the University of Virginia.
Aside from injury concerns, Brogdon&rsquo;s market will be robust with playofff or championship-hopeful teams lining up for his services. As a versatile multi-positional defender, connective playmaker and secondary scorer, Brogdon can really help a team that's going in the opposite direction as the rebuilding Pacers.
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s go ahead and dive into the most realistic trade packages Indiana could expect for Brogdon this offseason. As Indiana turns the page to Haliburton, it&rsquo;s time to extract some value from a potential Brogdon deal.
Phoenix Suns
Pacers receive: Landry Shamet, Dario Saric, 2024 1st-round draft pick (lottery protected)
Suns receive: Malcolm Brogdon, 2022 No. 31 pick
Phoenix&rsquo;s lack of guard depth was exposed throughout the playoffs. They simply can&rsquo;t rely on Cameron Payne anymore, who was a DNP-CD when it mattered most in the Western Conference Semifinals. Phoenix flirted with the idea of chasing Brogdon before signing Ricky Rubio back in 2019. Three years later, bringing Brogdon to the Valley as the Suns&rsquo; short-term backup and long-term fit alongside Devin Booker is a home run transaction.
Also, there has been some buzz that the Suns are trying to get into the 2022 NBA Draft. They have met with multiple players projected to be selected in the mid-to-late first round, including LSU&rsquo;s Tari Eason, Ohio State&rsquo;s E.J. Liddell and Duke&rsquo;s Wendell Moore. Adding any of those prospects will be impossible without adding a pick. The Suns could always buy an early second-round pick for $3 million, but that&rsquo;s never been their way of thinking.
Is this where Suns GM James Jones could get creative to snag a championship piece at discounted value? Brogdon and Chris Paul sharing minutes is a dream scenario for Phoenix since all 48 minutes at point guard would provide well above-average production. Also, we could see three-guard lineups galore thanks to Brogdon&rsquo;s versatility.
In this scenario, Indiana would add a shooter in Shamet who only has two guaranteed years left on his extension. Maybe Shamet could be their Buddy Hield replacement if they also decide to trade him soon. Adding a future first for Brogdon is the right risk for Indiana to take as well.
Utah Jazz
Pacers receive: Mike Conley, Jared Butler, 2025 2nd-round pick
Jazz receive: Malcolm Brogdon
The Jazz desperately need to shake things up. Stagnation is on the horizon in Salt Lake City, if it hasn&rsquo;t reached that point already. Utah may blow it up this offseason, but even if they don't, they need to do something in order to keep Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert happy long-term.
As we saw during the Jazz&rsquo;s quick postseason exit, Conley seems like a shell of himself. Looking back on that trade now, Utah has to be kicking themselves for surrendering so much for the veteran point guard.
Utah needs to get creative to avoid moving one of Mitchell or Gobert soon, so Conley going back home to Indianapolis makes a lot of sense here. Brogdon is a huge upgrade over Conley, and he helps address a dire need of perimeter defense.
Indiana would add a veteran mentor for Haliburton to lean on for a year since Conley&rsquo;s contract isn&rsquo;t fully guaranteed in 2023-24. Adding a young scoring guard in Butler alongside a future second-round pick might not be enough for the Pacers, but it's at least enough to start negotiations.
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Los Angeles Lakers
Pacers receive: Russell Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker, 2023 2nd, 2025 2nd, 2027 1st (lottery protected)
Lakers receive: Malcolm Brogdon, Buddy Hield, Goga Bitadze
This only makes sense if the Pacers are willing to take on the final year of Westbrook&rsquo;s contract, which would have any team second-guessing themselves beforehand. Surprisingly enough, Indiana is actually the betting favorite to land Westbrook if the Lakers offload him this offseason.
The Pacers would need a hefty return in order take on Westbrook while also relinquishing Brogdon and Hield. Adding Horton-Tucker, two future second-round picks and the Lakers&rsquo; next available first-round selection gets the job done. Los Angeles would hate to part with THT and even more draft capital, but Brogdon and Hield are perfect pieces to place alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Who knows, maybe Bitadze slides into the Lakers&rsquo; rotation as the backup center?
Indiana is embracing a full-scale rebuild, and pulling off a move like this would be consistent with that approach.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Pacers receive: D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, No. 19 pick, No. 40 pick
Timberwolves receive: Malcolm Brogdon, Goga Bitadze, No. 31 pick, 2023 2nd (via San Antonio Spurs)
As <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-dangelo-russell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our Nekias Duncan recently wrote</a>, a D&rsquo;Angelo Russell departure from Minnesota feels imminent this summer. It&rsquo;s another unfortunate turn in the career for Russell, who continues to bounce around the Association, unable to find a long-term home. The fit in Minnesota alongside good friend Karl-Anthony Towns had its moments, but Russell&rsquo;s negatives popped up in the postseason when it mattered most. After being benched in crunch-time situations by head coach Chris Finch and not having his name mentioned in The Athletic&rsquo;s recent story on new executive Tim Connelly, it wouldn't be shocking to see Russell playing elsewhere in 2022-23.
Even with the Pacers already having Haliburton and Chris Duarte, this feels like a spot where they could take a year-long look at Russell as a potential long-term backcourt piece. As a former top-three pick, Russell would bring more fanfare to the Pacers&rsquo; rebuild. And if he meshes well alongside Haliburton, Russell could become a long-term piece in Indiana and finally find a home.
From the Timberwolves&rsquo; point of view, this makes a whole lot of sense. Brogdon is a much better fit alongside Towns and Anthony Edwards, as he's easily able to slide into the No. 3 scoring role while providing an ideal complementary low-usage skill set. Taking a flier on Bitadze, a former top-20 pick, is also interesting, and as he could back up Towns.
Miami Heat
Pacers receive: Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, 2023 1st (lottery protected)
Heat receive: Malcolm Brogdon
As we&rsquo;ve seen unfold late in the postseason, Miami needs to find another offensive creator. Simply put, the Heat need more weapons to compete with the NBA&rsquo;s current juggernauts. Luckily for Miami, some much-needed flexibility could be on the way.
The Duncan Robinson contract looks like a disaster, but what if they could use his bloated salary and some future draft capital to bring in an immediate impact piece? Brogdon feels like the perfect remedy for Miami since he can take playmaking pressure off of Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry. Brogdon and Lowry could split minutes, which is a huge benefit for both players and would help keep them fresh and out of the training room.
For Indiana, they could be comfortable taking on Robinson&rsquo;s contract with all of their salary-cap space currently available. Adding Strus and a draft pick could make this deal worth it for the Pacers.
All of a sudden, Miami is now in a strong position to make another deep postseason push with Brogdon onboard for 2022-23 and beyond.
***
Every team in the NBA needs shooting, defensive versatility and playmaking. Even with his injury history, Brogdon would be well worth the risk for any team looking to take the next step forward.
If Brogdon is able to stay healthy, adding him at this price could be a coup for whichever team is next after Milwaukee and Indiana.
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With the Tyrese Haliburton era blossoming for the Pacers, Malcolm Brogdon is one of the most logical NBA trade candidates.

Examining potential trade destinations for Malcolm Brogdon

Changes are coming in Minnesota.
Fresh off a 46-36 campaign and competitive first-round exit, the Timberwolves have already gone swinging. There's a new sheriff in town, with former <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nuggets-tim-connelly-to-become-wolves-president-of-basketball-ops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Denver Nuggets president Tim Connelly joining the team</a> in a similar role. The price was huge: a five-year deal worth north of $40 million and&nbsp; &mdash; and! &mdash; equity in the organization, per The Athletic. It's a monstrous deal with the potential for more &mdash; a deal, as my Dunker Spot co-host <a href="https://twitter.com/stevejones20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Jones Jr.</a> described on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-dunker-spot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our latest episode</a>, that the Nuggets weren't likely to match.
There's obvious intrigue in Connelly's move to Minnesota, namely him leaving a successful division rival that currently rosters a back-to-back MVP in Nikola Jokic to do so. But the interest for me has come with the reporting around the move. Take this passage from The Athletic's <a href="https://theathletic.com/3320881/2022/05/18/timberwolves-tim-connelly-president-basketball-ops/?source=emp_shared_article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania</a> as negotiations were heating up between the two sides.
<blockquote>
Leaving the two-time MVP for upstart Minnesota would be a bold move. But the Timberwolves do have a pair of building blocks in Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, promising young talent in Jaden McDaniels and Jarred Vanderbilt, a coach who is revered throughout the organization and an ownership group that appears to be motivated to invest in the organization.
</blockquote>
Hmm... notice anyone missing? Also, the "ownership group that appears to be motivated to invest" portion could be seen as subtle shade toward the organization that was on track to lose Masai Ujiri (killing it in Toronto since 2014) and Connelly due to being outbid.&nbsp;
And how about this one, from Krawczynski and Charania again, after the <a href="https://theathletic.com/3326241/2022/05/23/tim-connelly-wolves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deal was done</a>?&nbsp;
<blockquote>
There are reasons beyond financial for him to be optimistic about the situation in Minnesota. Connelly will be taking over a team with two stars in Towns and Edwards, promising young players in Jaden McDaniels and Vanderbilt and a top-notch coach in Chris Finch, who spent one season working with Connelly in Denver as an assistant on Malone&rsquo;s staff. D&rsquo;Angelo Russell had a strong season before struggling in the playoffs and Patrick Beverley asserted himself as a tough, veteran leader for a young group.
</blockquote>
Ah,&nbsp;there's&nbsp;the name. But you see why my brow is raised, right? Towns and Edwards represent the core. McDaniels and Vanderbilt are the young pieces dubbed to grow alongside them. The 26 year-old Russell &mdash; one of Towns' best friends making north of $30 million this season &mdash; went from not being mentioned at all in the lead-up piece, to essentially getting a throw-in line with Beverley in the update five days later.
Oh, it doesn't help that Jordan McLaughlin was closing out playoff games while a healthy Russell watched in Round 1. Add in the fact that Russell's future has <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/05/03/report-timberwolves-will-attempt-to-trade-dangelo-russell-this-offseason/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already been questioned</a>, and I think it's fair to assume what the big&nbsp;roster&nbsp;swing for the Wolves will be.&nbsp;
Any team acquiring him will be on the hook for over $31 million next season, though that's the only&nbsp;year left on Russell's deal.&nbsp;
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WHAT RUSSELL BRINGS
Russell remains a smooth operator. He's a proactive passer, one who's able to see and&nbsp;fire into a gap before most players know what's happening. You'll see it with his transition hit-aheads, as well as some of the reads he'll make in pick-and-roll.
And about pick-and-roll: Not many players blend pull-up shooting and high-level passing like Russell does. You can't afford to duck under against him, or drop your big back too far. He will absolutely waltz into jumpers. Once he gets hot, you're forced to press up &mdash; and that opens up even more passing windows for him.
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Russell was one of 31 players to receive at least 1,500 on-ball picks this season, per Second Spectrum. Russell-led ball screens were good for nearly 1.03 points per possession (PPP), a top-10ish mark in NBA among high volume ball-handlers.
You can thank the jumper for that &mdash; Russell converted 37% of the pull-up threes he attempted out of pick-and-roll, per InStat tracking. For comparison, that put him in line with high volume pull-up artists like Stephen Curry (38.9%) and Trae Young (37.0%).
(Also: Shout out to Darius Garland for bombing away at a 42.5% clip. That guy's getting paid.)&nbsp;
LIMITATIONS
Russell is what I'd describe as a two-level scorer. He's comfortable firing from deep, and he's able to snake and hunt shots around the elbow area with the best of them. Rim pressure is... simply not his thing. Only 16% of Russell's shots came at the rim last season, a mark that ranks in the 16th percentile per Cleaning The Glass. (Not great!)
And as someone who rarely got to the rim, Russell didn't draw many shooting fouls either. The lack of "easy points" lends to a boom-or-bust nature in Russell's game. His pull-up jumper is a legit weapon, but things kinda crater for him if it isn't falling in a way that isn't helpful for your&nbsp;lead&nbsp;ball-handler.&nbsp;
I think a truth has become (more) clear &mdash; Russell needs to be paired with a ball-dominant rim threat to get the best out of him.
That was the intrigue around Edwards taking more of a lead role in the second half of the season. In theory, Edwards ability to touch the paint on any given possession would lead to easier catch-and-shoot &mdash; or catch-and-drive &mdash; opportunities for Russell. A team trading for Russell should have a similar infrastructure in place.
Defensively, Russell found his home as a middle linebacker. Most teams rely on their primary rim-protector to call out coverages and actions. For Minnesota, that responsibility was Russell's. It was an odd dynamic, but one that worked. He was often seen and&nbsp;heard barking out instructions while he zoned up behind the action.
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I remained worried about him in more conservative defensive schemes. Russell isn't the quickest laterally. And while he's improved a bit from his rookie season (I'd hope so!), screen navigation remains an issue for him overall.
With the Wolves, Russell was blessed with the opportunity to roam off-ball (his ideal role) while having the screen navigation issues limited due to his big hedging ball-screens with him. If Russell's dumped into a drop scheme, the onus flips back on him to stay attached to ball-handlers. That could be a tricky bet.
LANDING SPOTS
Due to Russell's contract and the context needed to unlock him on both ends, it's hard to imagine 20+ teams blowing up the phones in Minnesota. There are a few teams that:
1) Make theoretical sense for Russell's game
2) Have the contracts to at least get conversations started
The New York Knicks have been searching for a calming presence at point guard for ages; at the very least, a guy that can grease the wheels of an offense with pick-and-roll play. While an in-house option is staring them in the face &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/explain-one-play-young-knicks-playing-chess" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I'm with you, Knick fans</a> &mdash; it wouldn't shock me to see the Knicks take a flier on a talent like Russell, especially if it doesn't cost a core piece.&nbsp;
The contracts of Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, and Nerlens Noel get you in the ballpark of Russell's number. The Knicks have the Mavericks' first rounder in 2023 &mdash; a likely low 20s pick &mdash; to toss in if the Wolves don't think that's enough.
In theory, you'd have Russell playing off the rim-battering of RJ Barrett and Julius Randle. Maybe you get a more unlocked Randle with someone that can thread the needle on tight-window passes more consistently.&nbsp;
The Wolves would be able to bolster their depth, adding some rim pressure (Rose), movement shooting (Burks) and a big that can do work in an aggressive scheme (Noel). The Knicks losing the latter would be buffered by the retention of Mitchell Robinson and the likely growth from Jericho Sims.
Quick question: Who's the best passer for the Los Angeles Clippers? Follow-up question: How many names did you list before naming an actual guard? The combined deals of Reggie Jackson and Luke Kennard get you in the door. I can hear arguments about that already being too much for L.A. I'd argue that Russell gives you more on the playmaking front, gives you more size in the backcourt and helps your defense without tapping into your wing depth. Again, there's at least a conversation to be had.
If you're looking to pair Russell with a ball-dominant rim threat, how about Luka Doncic and Dallas? At worst, Russell could serve as a buffer to Jalen Brunson signing elsewhere. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dwight Powell would give the Wolves the movement shooting, plus big-man depth combination to bolster their supporting cast. I'd argue the Mavericks may have to throw in a pick, though they're a little light on that front.
Lastly, would you rather have Russell or Cole Anthony? Actually, don't answer that.
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Nekias Duncan looks at potential landing spots for Wolves guard D'Angelo Russell this offseason.

Examining potential trade destinations for D'Angelo Russell

The Orlando Magic came out of Tuesday&rsquo;s NBA Draft Lottery as the big winners, winning the No. 1 overall pick for the fourth time in franchise history.
Winning the lottery is a big deal for any team, as it gives them a tremendous opportunity to add an elite young talent. The <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 draft class</a> features a few &ldquo;can&rsquo;t-miss&rdquo; prospects who have already adequately separated themselves from the other top youngsters. Auburn&rsquo;s Jabari Smith, Gonzaga&rsquo;s Chet Holmgren and Duke&rsquo;s Paolo Banchero are easily the most electrifying players in the 2022 class.
All three of these prospects are versatile big men, which is a role that the Magic would be well-served in addressing. Orlando had two lottery picks in 2021, which they used on Gonzaga point guard Jalen Suggs and Michigan small forward Franz Wagner. If the Magic add a big man who grows into a superstar, their roster will be mostly set for the foreseeable future.
Of course, the allure of prospects wears off almost immediately after the draft. Ignoring the scouting process and all the work that goes into prosect evaluation, a look back at the last 10 NBA drafts reveals that first-overall picks are far from the sure things we make them out to be:
2012 NBA Draft: Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Ten years ago, the New Orleans Pelicans selected Anthony Davis with the No. 1 pick. Davis grew into a superstar quickly, and his impact on the Pelicans was clear almost immediately. He led the Pelicans to the playoffs twice, in 2014-15 and 2017-18. The 2017-18 team was particularly good, winning 48 games in the regular season with a core of Davis, DeMarcus Cousins and Jrue Holiday. Cousins&rsquo; injury played a major role in Davis departing the Pelicans, as New Orleans failed to replace Davis&rsquo; friend and running mate. Had Cousins stayed healthy, who knows how good New Orleans could have been?
Still, Davis is clearly a great player who was absolutely worthy of the No. 1 pick. He has become an eight-time All-Star and earned a spot on the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team. Davis helped the Los Angeles Lakers win a championship in 2020, and he has career averages 23.8 points, 10.2 rebounds 2.3 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.4 steals.
Verdict: Success, although not necessarily for New Orleans.
2013 NBA Draft: Anthony Bennett, Cleveland Cavaliers 2014 NBA Draft: Andrew Wiggins, Cleveland Cavaliers 
The Cleveland Cavaliers picked first overall in 2013 and 2014. The strange thing about both picks is that neither Anthony Bennett nor Andrew Wiggins made an impact in Cleveland. Both were sent to Minnesota in a package for Kevin Love. Bennett played one uneventful season with the Cavaliers, and Wiggins was sent out prior to the start of his rookie season. So, which team do we assess? Cleveland or Minnesota? Let&rsquo;s review both.
Technically, getting two consecutive first overall picks and trading them to the Timberwolves helped Cleveland win their first championship in franchise history. That&rsquo;s a big win for the Cavaliers, even if it cost them both players. Cleveland&rsquo;s championship was more so a product of LeBron James (and Kyrie Irving to a lesser extent), but Love was impactful and the trade worked out.
Conversely, Minnesota did not fare well with Wiggins and Bennett. They qualified for the playoffs only once in Wiggins&rsquo; five-and-a-half seasons in Minnesota, and Bennett was off the team after only one season. Wiggins seems to have found a home in Golden State, but he's the team&rsquo;s fourth-best player, which is not what most people expect from No. 1 picks (especially one with Wiggins' hype).
Verdict: Both are failures relative to expectations, but Wiggins has become a significant contributor.
2015 NBA Draft: Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
Speaking of Minnesota, they fared so poorly following the aforementioned Love-for-Wiggins-and-Bennett trade that they received the No. 1 overall pick in 2015. Yes, that means they technically had the first overall picks from three consecutive drafts on their roster, at least for a short period of time.
The pick in 2015 turned out to be Karl-Anthony Towns, who has now played seven seasons in Minnesota. Until recently, the Timberwolves' front office failed to surround him with the talent needed to compete. Towns has led Minnesota to the playoffs only twice, but regardless how one views the lack of team success, Towns was a good pick. He's a career 20-and-10 guy who shoots an unbelievable 40% from three-point range. The 26-year-old is a perfect big man for today's NBA.
Verdict: The Towns pick is a relative success.
2016 NBA Draft: Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers 2017 NBA Draft: Markelle Fultz, Philadelphia 76ers
We can&rsquo;t really discuss the first overall picks of the past 10 seasons without diving into Sam Hinke&rsquo;s Philadelphia 76ers. Hinke led the &ldquo;Trust the Process&rdquo; 76ers from 2013-2016, during which time he received significant scorn from the NBA, media and basketball purists who felt he was cheapening the game by blatantly losing to increase the odds of being awarded the first overall pick.
Thoughts on Hinke&rsquo;s philosophy aside, he picked first overall in two consecutive seasons. Philadelphia won the draft lottery in 2016, selecting Ben Simmons. Then, they traded up to No. 1 overall in 2017 to nab the rights to Markelle Fultz.
Neither Simmons nor Fultz fulfilled their potential in Philadelphia. Fultz had a misdiagnosed shoulder injury, which resulted in an awkward shooting motion. After two sub-par seasons in Philadelphia, he was traded to Orlando, where he&rsquo;s played better but still nowhere near what's expected from a No. 1 pick.
Simmons was better for the 76ers, co-leading them to the playoffs in four consecutive seasons. But Simmons&rsquo; time in Philadelphia ended infamously last season, culminating with him forcing his way to Brooklyn after a lengthy holdout.
Verdict: Degrees of failure, though Fultz was considerably more disappointing than Simmons. At least Simmons became a three-time All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year runner-up.
2018 NBA Draft: Deandre Ayton, Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns picked first in the 2018 NBA Draft, which is another strange case. Objectively, Deandre Ayton is a major piece on Phoenix&rsquo;s roster. In his fourth NBA season, he averaged an impressive 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
Can we really analyze players in a vacuum though? Ayton was picked a few selections before Luka Doncic, who received serious first-overall-pick buzz that June. Imagine if the Suns had paired Doncic with Devin Booker? Like the Rockets and Trail Blazers both did in 1984, the Suns simply overthought this one.
2018 is too recent to accurately judge the long-term impact of this pick. Ayton could very possibly end up being a major contributor on a championship team. Still, this is a push at best, and if he ends up signing elsewhere this offseason, that makes the Ayton selection look even worse.
Verdict: Who the hell knows?
2019 NBA Draft: Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
New Orleans also picked first overall in 2019, selecting the electric athlete, Zion Williamson, who is the toughest first pick to grade in the last 10 years. In his lone injury-free season, he averaged 27 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 62% on two-point attempts.
But injuries make it far more difficult to grade him. Williamson has played in only 85 of a possible 202 career games, missing the entire 2021-22 season.
Verdict: Time will tell.
2020 NBA Draft: Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota is experiencing a major resurgence, and the credit belongs to Towns and the 2020 first overall pick Anthony Edwards. Edwards had a good rookie season, but he exploded in his sophomore campaign.
This season, he helped lead Minnesota to the playoffs, averaging 21.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.0 threes and 1.5 steals on 44.1/35.7/78.6 shooting splits. In the postseason, he took his game to another level, contributing 25.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.8 threes, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks on 45.5/40.4/82.4 shooting splits.
Verdict: After only two seasons, Edwards looks like a huge win for Minnesota.
2021 NBA Draft: Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
Last but not least, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham first overall in 2021. Despite playing alongside less talent than most of his peers, Cunningham's rookie campaign was successful. He averaged 17.4 points, 5.6 assists and 5.5 rebounds, was named a unanimous All-Rookie First Team selection and placed third in Rookie of the Year voting.
One season is too small of a sample size to grade a young player, but Cunningham looks like the absolute right pick.
Verdict: Success (so far).&nbsp; &nbsp;
In the last 10 drafts, the first overall pick has clearly been one of the best players in the draft class just four times (2012, 2015, 2020 and 2021). He has been a complete dud twice (2013 and 2017), a good player twice (2014 and 2018), a malcontent once (2016) and an injury-prone player once (2019). Five of the last 10 first picks were traded too. If Ayton is allowed to leave this offseason, then six of the last 10 are no longer with the team that drafted them, erasing the benefit of player development.
For every franchise-changing No. 1 overall pick &mdash; such as LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar &mdash; there are a handful of players who didn't work out in the long run. Sometimes, there isn't a generational player on the board; other times, the team picking No. 1 overall just overthinks it or goes in the wrong direction.&nbsp;
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The Orlando Magic came out of Tuesday’s NBA Draft lottery with the first overall pick. How successful does history suggest they will be?

Examining the success of teams selecting No. 1 in the NBA Draft

The Minnesota Timberwolves are talking to Denver Nuggets president Tim Connelly about their vacant president of basketball operations role, The Associated Press has confirmed.
The talks were confirmed by a person familiar with the discussions, who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because neither franchise is commenting publicly. The talks were first reported by The Athletic.
Connelly is one of the NBA's rising top executives. He has built the Nuggets into a perennial playoff team that is expected to compete for a championship next season if Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. can return to health and rejoin <a href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-nikola-jokic-6b7dc34c311b6810ec67c76ee2208c2d">two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokic</a> on the court.
Connelly, who succeeded Masai Ujiri as the Nuggets' prime decision-maker in 2013 when Ujiri left to run the Toronto Raptors, has been courted before, by the Washington Wizards for their president of basketball operations position in 2019.
He's built both a solid roster and a respected front office in Denver, where the Nuggets have reached the playoffs the last four seasons under coach Michael Malone, including the Western Conference Finals in the Orlando bubble two years ago.
They <a href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-jamal-murray-nikola-jokic-98c0c6136a8c3b14423c54f889a09a5d">won 48 games</a> in 2021-22 despite the absences of Murray (knee) for the entire season and Porter (back) for all but nine games before losing to Golden State in the first round of the playoffs.
In addition to losing Ujiri, the Nuggets lost front office executive Arturas Karnisovas in 2020 when he left to take the Chicago Bulls' executive vice president job. Karnisovas' departure led to the promotion of Calvin Booth from assistant GM to general manager in Denver.
The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-timberwolves-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-9d7a219a489c09c76fcd763eeed7041d">Timberwolves also are a resurgent team</a>, coming off a season in which they doubled their win total from the previous season to 46. They pushed the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies hard in a six-game first-round playoff loss.
That was only the second appearance in the playoffs for the club in the last 18 years. With Karl-Anthony Towns inside and Anthony Edwards outside, there is an enviable foundation in place on the floor.
The Wolves have had plenty of turnover in the top front office job over the years, mirroring the franchise&rsquo;s tumultuous and largely unsuccessful history.
They fired Gersson Rosas right before training camp began last fall in response to mounting tension around him in the building. Sachin Gupta was promoted to be president of basketball operations in Rosas&rsquo; place, with the caveat that the position would be evaluated again this summer.
Gupta drew raves within the organization for his humble, steady leadership, notably from head coach Chris Finch. The franchise is currently in an ownership transition, with Glen Taylor in the process of handing over control to co-buyers Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez in a sale that&rsquo;s scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
If the Wolves were to hire Connelly, or anyone from outside the organization, Gupta would more than likely be given the chance to stay with the team in a prominent position.
___
AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell contributed from Minneapolis.

The Timberwolves are talking to Nuggets president Tim Connelly about their vacant president of basketball operations role.

Report: Timberwolves in talks with Nuggets' Tim Connelly

In the 2020 Summer Olympics, which took place in 2021 due to COVID, France matched up with Team USA in the men&rsquo;s basketball gold-medal game for the third time.
The first gold-medal meeting between the two nations took place was in 1948, with France <a href="https://www.usab.com/history/national-team-mens/games-of-the-xivth-olympiad-1948.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">losing 65-21 in that final</a>.
Despite having been historically good since then, it took another 52 years for the Frenchmen to return to that stage for a second time; unfortunately, Team USA awaited again. The game was much closer in 2000 than in 1948, but the Americans &mdash; led by Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning and Ray Allen among others &mdash; outlasted Antoine Rigaudeau, Laurent Sciarra, Frederic Weis and France, 85-75.
(No, that wasn&rsquo;t the game Carter <a href="https://youtu.be/WihbbVEmppI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dunked on Weis</a>; that was earlier in The Games.)
And in last year&rsquo;s gold-medal game, in the countries' third meeting on that stage, France <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-olympics-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401347899" target="_blank" rel="noopener">got even closer</a>.
France's best Olympic team ever was defeated by the Americans, 87-82. Team USA started Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bam Adebayo, answering the French quintet of Nando De Colo, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Guerschon Yabusele and Rudy Gobert.
Contributions from the U.S. bench came from Jayson Tatum, Zach LaVine, Draymond Green and Khris Middleton, while Timoth&eacute; Luwawu-Cabarrot, Frank Ntikilina, Thomas Heurtel and Moustapha Fall were key components of France's second unit. The Frenchmen trailed by as little as 3 points with just eight seconds remaining before Durant iced the game with two free throws.
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Now imagine that game with Joel Embiid... playing for France.
The 28-year-old NBA MVP candidate, who was born and raised in Cameroon and has never played for his home national team (despite <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/things-to-monitor-as-the-next-fiba-world-cups-next-qualifying-window-arrives">coming close in 2017</a>), is reportedly <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/05/02/joel-embiid-could-change-nationality-play-french-national-team-report">eyeing an opportunity to suit up for France</a>.
Embiid has family in France, and is <a href="https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/basket/basket-joel-embiid-superstar-de-nba-se-rapproche-de-l-equipe-de-france_AV-202205020664.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considering changing his nationality</a> in order to play for the Frenchmen in the 2024 Olympic Games, where they&rsquo;d enter as one of the favorites to challenge Team USA again for the gold. According to French basketball general manager Boris Diaw, Embiid is <a href="https://actucameroun.com/2022/05/03/boris-diaw-manager-general-de-lequipe-de-france-confirme-les-demarches-entamees-par-joel-embiid-pour-jouer-avec-les-bleus-en-vue-des-jo-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taking the necessary steps</a>.
(Looks like we won't ever see the Embiid-Pascal Siakam tandem for Cameroon, unfortunately.)
In FIBA, each team is allowed one naturalized player on its roster. Current and recent instances of this include American-born players to suit up for different countries, such as Javonte Green (Montenegro), Matt Costello (Ivory Coast), Anthony Randolph (Slovenia) and Andray Blatche (Philippines). Non-American examples include Congolese center Serge Ibaka playing for Spain, Cuban native Ismael Romero playing for Puerto Rico and French-born Aaron Cel playing for Poland. Another famous occasion where this occurred saw Hakeem Olajuwon playing with Team USA in the 1990s.
Regarding American-born WNBA players, known examples include Bria Hartley representing France, Becky Hammon representing Russia and Leilani Mitchell representing Australia. Non-American examples in the women&rsquo;s game include Bahamian Jonquel Jones playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Senegal native Astou Ndour playing for Spain.
Now, it may be long before we see Embiid actually playing for France if this process gets finalized, or less than we think if he decides not to wait for the Olympics.
The next major European basketball tournament is EuroBasket 2022, <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2022">which will run from Sept. 1-18 later this year</a> across Italy, Germany, Georgia and the Czech Republic. France will be one of 24 teams competing, but seeing Embiid there would be surprising.
The 2023 FIBA World Cup, which France is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/where-things-stand-after-the-second-window-of-fiba-world-cup-qualifiers">currently attempting to qualify for</a>, will take place from Aug. 25 through Sept. 10, 2023. Qualifying for the World Cup will run through next February before the final pool of 32 teams gets decided.
And the 2024 Summer Olympics, assuming we avoid another global pandemic, is expected to actually run that summer. The host of the Games? France, who will automatically qualify for the tournament <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/pr-n34-brazils-national-teams-granted-automatic-places-at-2016-olympic-basketball-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by rule</a>. Embiid will be 30 years old by the next Olympics.
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Since Embiid is reportedly targeting the 2024 Games, let&rsquo;s look at some players who might be his teammates.
The oldest players from the silver-medal-winning squad last summer were De Colo and Batum, who&rsquo;ll be 37 and 35 by the 2024 Games, so expect many of the same players to run it back if possible. One name that could join the fray is Boston Celtics second-round pick Juhann Begarin, who is just 19 years old and was the No. 45 overall selection last summer. Isma&euml;l Kamagate and Hugo Besson, both of whom are 21, are in the 2022 NBA Draft pool; the same goes for 18-year-old Ousmane Dieng, who is quickly rising up draft boards. There's also plenty of hype surrounding fellow 18-year-old, ASVEL star and 7-foot-2 sensation Victor Wembanyama &mdash; a lock to be a high draft pick in 2023.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft">BasketballNews.com Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock</a> has Dieng going No. 21 overall, Kamagate at No. 40 and Besson at No. 51.
But really, there&rsquo;s one question we need to answer, and it has to do with a three-time Defensive Player of the Year already on the roster who holds down the 5 position. Could an Embiid and Gobert frontcourt lead France over Team USA?
If you haven&rsquo;t realized, the American pool of bigs is slighter than you think.
Many of the best centers in the NBA aren&rsquo;t American and don&rsquo;t represent America internationally. Examples include Embiid, Gobert, Nikola Jokić (Serbia), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Nikola Vučević (Montenegro), Kristaps Porziņģis (Latvia), Clint Capela (Switzerland) and Jonas Valančiūnas (Lithuania).
The best centers that have represented Team USA, and/or have Team USA eligibility, have been Adebayo, Green, Jarrett Allen and JaVale McGee. Deandre Ayton (Bahamas) is a player to watch <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2021/06/22/suns-big-deandre-ayton-ideal-team-usa-2024-summer-olympics-paris/5307682001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who could represent Team USA in the future</a>, along with younger bigs like Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren.
Assuming health, so the 2024 American team could start either Adebayo, Ayton or Allen, if not 2 of the 3. Team USA is generally harder to guess in advance, but your starting lineup could look like some combination of Ja Morant, Anthony Edwards, Booker, Tatum and Adebayo. Maybe, to match size, Ayton gets in there instead of Edwards.
Maybe a Trae Young, LaMelo Ball, Bradley Beal, Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell sneak into the backcourt instead. Maybe someone we&rsquo;re not projecting to make another huge leap does &mdash; like Jordan Poole, Tyler Herro or Tyrese Maxey &mdash; or maybe Jaden Ivey or Jabari Smith are more ready than we think by 2024. Even so, you&rsquo;d throw, at best, Adebayo, Ayton, Allen, and Mobley at the Embiid-Gobert combo, and that tandem could be backed up by Dieng, Yabusele, and Vincent Poirier for France.
It&rsquo;s a lot to project, no doubt, but giving <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/rankingmen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the No. 4 team in the world</a> a top-four player in the world could be what it takes for someone to snatch the gold medal away from Team USA in the Olympics for the first time since 2004.
But a lot can happen in two years, so we'll table this... for now.&nbsp;
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Bryan Fonseca looks at the potential of Joel Embiid joining France in international competition.

We’re not talking enough about Joel Embiid possibly playing for France

It&rsquo;s impossible to watch the NBA Playoffs and not be impressed with the talent level of the league&rsquo;s stars.
Chris Paul and Steph Curry have been doing it for a minute, but in recent years, we&rsquo;ve gotten to see some newer faces on the playoff stage show that they&rsquo;re not afraid of the big moments... Guys like Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Ja Morant and now, even Anthony Edwards.
But the more I watch those guys, the more I have to respect the guys whose job it is to stop them. It might be clich&eacute;, but defense really does win championships. At this point, there&rsquo;s only eight teams left in the playoffs, and it&rsquo;s no coincidence that guys like Matisse Thybulle, Draymond Green, Mikal Bridges and Bam Adebayo are still alive.
There can only be one Defensive Player of the Year, though, and this year, he happens to play in Boston.
Marcus Smart sure is deserving.
I obviously have a little bit of a soft spot for the Celtics, but over the years, as I&rsquo;ve watched Marcus, I always felt like he was exactly the kind of player I would want on my team. He has skills on both sides of the ball, but defensively, he&rsquo;s not willing to give even one inch to his opponent, and that&rsquo;s exactly why he&rsquo;s become such a favorite in Boston.
The very first conversation I had with Gary Payton once we became teammates in Miami, GP complimented me because, according to him, I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to get up in another dude&rsquo;s face. To be honest, I was a little surprised that he even knew who I was, but he always told me that real recognize real, and today, that comment has newfound meaning to me.
When I look back at my career, I give thanks for all that I was able to accomplish and for the fact that I was able to win at the highest level. It&rsquo;s hard for me to look back on it and say I have any regrets, but I can&rsquo;t lie... As someone who was regarded as a great 3-and D guy, it would have been nice to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award. If you&rsquo;re someone who takes pride in your ability to lock other guys up, that&rsquo;s sort of the pinnacle of the profession.
Even though we were only together in Miami for a short time, I learned a lot about defensive principles and technique from GP, and we took a special pride in defending our opponents and making things difficult for them.
So for me, it all comes full circle in a way; Marcus became the first guard since GP to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
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Gary Payton pulled up to surprise Marcus Smart winning DPOY 👏 <a href="https://t.co/FrGtxLWEsR">pic.twitter.com/FrGtxLWEsR</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1516195034361577472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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GP was named Defensive Player of the Year during the 1995-96 season. Since then, of the next 25 seasons the award was given out, it went to a center 19 times. The other six times, the award was won equally by small forwards and power forwards.
The fact that almost 30 years went by before a backcourt player won the award again is crazy. If anything, the award should go to guards more often than anyone else.
What we have seen over history is that, for the most part, centers get the credit for anchoring a team&rsquo;s defense. And in most cases, they do deserve the credit, because being the last line of defense is a huge responsibility. But centers usually have a size advantage and play closer to the rim. In many instances, their primary responsibilities are to block or change shots, and rebound, but they usually have more of an opportunity to make plays on the ball and attract attention since they usually play at the rim.
Having a good anchor is obviously an important part of any championship-level defense, but not even guys like Rudy Gobert or Dikembe Mutombo can patch every hole in bad defense.
When you have a five-man unit on the floor, they are really only as strong as the weakest link, and if the backcourt can&rsquo;t defend, the team is toast.
Think about it. In most cases, unless you&rsquo;re playing a triangle offense or something like that, an offensive attack begins with a point guard. If he&rsquo;s easily able to beat his man off the dribble, it compromises the entire defense. When it comes to playing straight up, man-to-man defense, guards have to be top notch in order to not be a liability for their team.
Today, the game is so spaced out; it&rsquo;s definitely become more difficult for centers, but perimeter players have to guard pick-and-rolls, chase over screens, keep assignments in front, contain the dribble in front of them and just overall have more of a responsibility.
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In the league today, things are that much tougher because pretty much every team plays pick-and-roll basketball. So again, the perimeter defenders not only have to play good on-ball defense, but they also have to know when to switch and know how to read coverages in certain situations. They have to close-out on shooters, recover and know their rotations. The job was hard when GP was doing it back in the 1990s, and it&rsquo;s only gotten more difficult in recent years.
To be honest, it feels a little weird arguing this point, because Draymond Green and OG Anunoby are two of my favorite guys to watch on the defensive end. I respect the hell out of Gobert and Adebayo, and I think that Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen are some of the best defenders ever. None of those guys are backcourt players. What they do have in common, though, is their versatility. And that&rsquo;s what made Marcus Smart deserving of winning the award this year.
Maybe the solution is for the league to separate the Defensive Players of the Year, and to give out the award to the best backcourt defender and the best frontcourt defender. That would probably take a little of the prestige away from the honor, but the truth of the matter is that bigs and guards have very different responsibilities to a team&rsquo;s defense &mdash; it&rsquo;s just really hard to compare those contributions directly.
But this year, at least, it&rsquo;s nice to see that Marcus ended the drought. It&rsquo;s been a long time coming. It&rsquo;s not every day that you find a guard who not only accepts every challenge that comes his way, but also exceling at it. Smart can effectively guard all five positions, which is not something you see every day.
With the Bucks standing between them and a chance to get to the conference finals, Boston has its work cut out for it in the Eastern semis. Giannis and the Bucks are trying to go back-to-back.
But one thing for sure, is that Boston is going to fight, and I know that Marcus Smart is going to be battling every possession he&rsquo;s out there. And even if he&rsquo;s not 100%, his fingerprints are going to be all over the game.
He deserves more than just credit for that. He deserves to be the Defensive Player of the Year, and honestly, it&rsquo;s long overdue.
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James Posey offers praise for Marcus Smart's tenaciousness and shares his thoughts on the DPOY award moving forward.

Guards like Marcus Smart should always be Defensive Player of the Year

Yeah, the Minnesota Timberwolves' repeated shipwreckings in the first round might be tough to swallow for the next month. However, the blown leads and Karl-Anthony Towns trash talk undermine what was, in my estimation, one of the most promising seasons in recent franchise history.
Minnesota has made the playoffs twice since 2004. The only other time was a whimper of a first-round exit in 2018 that foreshadowed the collapse of a Jimmy Butler-led, Tom Thibodeau-coached roster. This season, Minnesota constructed a top-10 defense with the league's seventh-youngest roster, per RealGM, and went 30-17 in the 2022 calendar year.
Make no mistake: This franchise is on a positive trajectory, and is finally turning potential into production. Now, Minnesota has to make one of the most difficult leaps in basketball &mdash; going from a winning team to a true contender &mdash; at a time where the NBA wields some of the widest parity in recent memory.
The 2022 offseason can be a pivotal building block towards that leap. First, the franchise needs to secure its chief decision-maker.
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Sachin Gupta assumed interim duties as president of basketball operations following Gersson Rosas' departure last fall. The Wolves made all of five in-season acquisitions under his tenure (three of which were 10-day signings), and executed zero trades. It was a quiet season on paper for the creator of ESPN's Trade Machine.&nbsp;
According to the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/timberwolves-sachin-gupta-chris-finch/600169496/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minneapolis Star Tribune</a>, Gupta seems prepared to navigate the Timberwolves through the summer, though the franchise has not made any move towards announcing a permanent head of operations yet. Wolves head coach Chris Finch has voiced his support for Gupta.
"They know my feelings about Sach," Finch said. "They know that I think he's outstanding and he's been a huge reason that we have stability in this organization right now. He's very smart. We have complete alignment. The players love him. He's appropriate in his presence around the team. He's not heavy-handed with the coaching staff. He does his job.
"I'm a huge fan, and I've advocated for him to have his opportunity to be the guy to run this team. Nothing would make me happier than that."
So time will tell if the new ownership group, currently including Glen Taylor, Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, feel the same.
Minnesota has most of its current roster contractually intact. The team holds $1.9 million team options on 2019 second round pick Jaylen Nowell and undrafted Naz Reid, who have both emerged as quality rotation-caliber players. Perhaps the biggest free agent name is Taurean Prince (UFA), who solidified a solid floor-spacing role off the bench in the regular season, but struggled in the playoffs.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, defensive-minded wing Josh Okogie enters restricted free agency after playing just 10.5 minutes per game this season. The former 2018 first-round pick has seen his playing time decrease in each of the last three years. Nathan Knight and McKinley Wright IV also enter restricted free agency, while Jake Layman and Greg Monroe hit the unrestricted open market.
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The Wolves likely won't have the salary cap room for flashy free agent acquisitions. According to Spotrac, Minnesota is all-but guaranteed to be over the cap before free agency even opens. Their best spending asset will be a $10.2 million non-taxpayer exception. Interestingly, Gupta has already commented on a potential team need.
"Defensive rebounding was obviously a big issue in this series and all year long," Gupta said. "That might be a more personnel thing and more size can certainly help. There's a mix for sure in terms of how we can address some of those areas and weaknesses just with development and internal growth and others that we may have to address with the roster."
Minnesota should have plenty of chances to fill this need with its exception. Purely spitballing, but some rebounding bigs who might fit in the $10.2 million exception include: Derrick Favors, Ivica Zubac, Thomas Bryant and Andre Drummond.&nbsp;
But if the front office feels a greater compulsion to act, they have the players and draft picks to create enticing trades. Minnesota holds the No. 19 pick in the first round of the NBA Draft, and Nos. 40, 48 and 50 in the second round. How many of these selections will stay in the Twin Cities with a roster nearly full already?&nbsp;
Our Senior NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock projects Minnesota to select Kennedy Chandler at No. 19, and then Ismael Kamagate, Jalen Williams and Hugo Besson in the second round of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his latest 2022 NBA Mock Draft</a>. Chandler could develop into a steady backup point guard behind D'Angelo Russell, while the others profile as high-upside swings that Minnesota doesn't need to step into the game right now.
One more wrinkle to monitor is Leandro Bolmaro, the No. 23 pick from the 2020 NBA Draft. The Argentinian wing spent most of 2021-22 with the Iowa Wolves in the G League, and put up 12.9 points, 5.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. Is Bolmaro ready to make an NBA impact?
The Timberwolves don't need to rush their franchise timeline. Anthony Edwards is only in his second season, and as we saw in the playoffs, still radiates untapped potential despite his ascendancy. Towns is the second-oldest player currently under contract, and even he's still just 26.&nbsp;
But there's no turning back once a young roster makes the NBA playoffs. Minnesota has set postseason play as the minimum standard for next season, and with youth comes expected improvement in each subsequent season.
Now Gupta, or whoever the next president of basketball operations is, must steer the franchise toward a path to greater heights this summer.
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A disappointing first-round series masked what was a breakout season for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

2022 NBA offseason preview: What's next for the Minnesota Timberwolves?

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks each scored 23 points and the Memphis Grizzlies rallied yet again to eliminate the Minnesota Timberwolves, winning 114-106 in Game 6 on Friday night.
Brandon Clarke added 17 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Grizzlies, who withstood another quiet night by star Ja Morant and another double-digit deficit entering the fourth quarter.
The Grizzlies advanced in the playoffs for the first time in seven years, this time to meet Golden State. They&rsquo;ll host Game 1 in Memphis.
Anthony Edwards had 16 of his 30 points in the first quarter for Minnesota. Jaden McDaniels had 24 points off the bench, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Morant went 4 for 14 from the field and had 17 points and 11 assists.
With the Grizzlies already the first team in NBA history to win multiple games in the same playoff series by erasing a double-digit-point fourth-quarter deficit, the here-we-go-again feeling was palpable in the building as an 84-74 lead for the Wolves at the third-quarter break quickly vanished.
Bane and Brooks each hit tying 3-pointers midway through the fourth, and Brooks fouled out just 26 seconds after his evened the score at 97.
Bane then swished another one from deep at 3:03 for a 101-99 lead, the first for the Grizzlies since they were up 39-38.
The kill shot came soon after for a Wolves team that, like so many others against the Grizzlies this season, was consistently a step and a jump behind on the glass.
Tyus Jones missed a pair of 3-pointers from the wing on the same possession, but the Grizzlies rebounded both &mdash; and Morant used the second one for a layup and a four-point lead.
After McDaniels, who had the game of his two-year career, hit a 3 with 1:34 left to bring the Wolves back within one, Jones &mdash; the former Timberwolves player and native of Minnesota &mdash; answered with a 3-pointer to bump the lead back to two possessions with 1:09 left.
ANT GOES MARCHING
The Grizzlies have had only one lead after the first quarter in this series, 33-32 in Game 2, and Edwards ensured they didn&rsquo;t get another one. The first overall pick in the 2020 draft with the bravado and the flair for the big moments had nine of his team&rsquo;s first 11 points. He hit a 3-pointer with about a minute left in the period, then blocked Morant's layup with a few seconds left.
The crowd roared when the game operations crew flashed a graphic in the second quarter with a side-by-side comparison of scoring totals of Edwards and Morant, which was 16-0 at the time.
BEVERLEY THRILLS
One of the most vital players for Minnesota in this series &mdash; all season, really &mdash; has been Patrick Beverley with his energy, experience and tenacity. One of the NBA's most notorious pests, who was on the Grizzlies roster last summer for a few days in a stopover between trades that routed him from the Clippers to the Wolves, Beverley has contributed his share of big shots, too.
He knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Wolves a 69-56 lead with Morant guarding him, grinning at the NBA's Most Improved Player, who flashed back a smile &mdash; and promptly produced with a three-point play on the other end by flipping in a layup and drawing a foul. That sparked a 12-0 spurt by the Grizzlies, which Beverley ended with another 3-pointer.
MUST-WINS IN MINNESOTA
This was the first Game 6 the Timberwolves hosted in their modest postseason history, though they had Game 7 at Target Center in 2004 when they beat Sacramento to close that second round series.
In the Western Conference finals that year, the Wolves also beat the Lakers here in Game 5 before losing in Los Angeles in Game 6. Those are the only two elimination games they&rsquo;ve ever won at home, having lost in those situations in the first round in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Despite the devastation of the two squandered leads in defeat earlier in the series and the untrustworthy history of a franchise in a market that has not enjoyed a major professional league championship in a men&rsquo;s sport since 1991, the fans turned out once again and gave the Wolves a clear advantage.
Former Timberwolves star Latrell Sprewell sat courtside, a few seats down from Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen, a Minnesota native. Local head coaches P.J. Fleck (Gophers football), Ben Johnson (Gophers basketball) and Cheryl Reeve (Lynx) were in the house, too, as fans clutched neon-blue glow sticks for the duration of the night in the packed downtown arena.
TIP-INS
Grizzlies: Bane has 27 made 3-pointers in the series. That's already the <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1520222830645989377">most in team history</a> for a single postseason. O.J. Mayo made 20 shots from behind the arc in 13 playoff games in 2011. ... Backup forward Ziaire Williams (right knee soreness) was held out.
Timberwolves: Naz Reid was not with the team for personal reasons, so recent acquisition Greg Monroe got the backup center minutes, his first action of the series.

Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks each scored 23 points and the Grizzlies eliminated the Timberwolves, winning 114-106 in Game 6.

Grizzlies rally past Wolves 114-106 to reach second round

After frittering away a double-digit-point fourth-quarter lead twice in this series, the Minnesota Timberwolves could have already defeated the Memphis Grizzlies by now and be preparing for the second round.
The Timberwolves will try to stave off elimination by the Grizzlies in Game 6 on Friday night instead, aiming to show the league, their fans &mdash; and perhaps themselves &mdash; that they have an ample supply of the late-game resolve needed to be a factor in the NBA playoffs.
What they don't necessarily need, though, is one of their stars to take over.
One of the main reasons why the Wolves have been unproductive in the final stretches of games is a stagnant offense and forced shots from one of the trio of Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards or D'Angelo Russell.
&ldquo;Everybody wants to be the hero, and that&rsquo;s not how you&rsquo;re going to win these games,&rdquo; coach Chris Finch said after practice Thursday.
Edwards tied Game 5 with 3.7 seconds left on a fadeaway corner 3-pointer. The second-year guard has quickly established himself as a true clutch player, so having the ball in his hands with the clock winding down is not at all a negative for Minnesota. The problems can arise, though, when there's little passing to or from him to set up the best looks at the basket.
&ldquo;It was me. I was a lot of that, what Coach talked about,&rdquo; Edwards said, reflecting on his Game 5 decision-making. He had 22 points but took 20 shots to get there.
Russell has had some ill-advised attempts, too, including a 10-foot pull-up in traffic with 12.3 seconds left in Game 5 that missed badly.
Entering the series, guard Patrick Beverley was the only player on the Wolves with any postseason experience of significance.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re young,&rdquo; Edwards said. &ldquo;I think we all know that, and we&rsquo;re learning as we going.&rdquo;
The Grizzlies are just as inexperienced on this stage, but they've been the better team in the last half of the fourth quarter, even if the other 90% of the game has mostly gone the way of the Wolves. Ja Morant belied his age by quite a bit in Game 5 by scoring his team's final 13 points, including the last-second layup that lifted Memphis to victory.
The rally in Game 5 came after Jaren Jackson Jr. fouled out, prompting coach Taylor Jenkins to go to a super-small lineup with Morant next to Tyus Jones, Desmond Bane, Dillon Brooks and Brandon Clarke. Brooks and Clarke helped defend Towns, and Clarke dominated in the fourth quarter with seven of his 10 rebounds on the offensive end. Memphis had a 12-0 scoring edge in second-chance points in the final period, and Clarke finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds off the bench.
The Grizzlies last advanced to the second round in 2015, when none of their current players were around, nor the coaching staff.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just focused on how we&rsquo;re going to play our best basketball still. So hopefully come out with that physical edge, that mental edge you&rsquo;re going to need,&rdquo; Jenkins said. &ldquo;You just need to take it up a notch for sure on the road against a really tough team.&rdquo;
Taking a early lead at Target Center could go a long way toward sending the Grizzlies to a Game 1 on Sunday at Golden State.
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want to give a team like that any life,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;When you have a chance to close out an opponent in a playoff series, you've got to try to take advantage of it. We obviously don&rsquo;t want this to go to a seventh game.&rdquo;
GRIZZLIES at TIMBERWOLVES
Memphis leads 3-2. Game 6, 9 p.m. EDT, ESPN.
&mdash;NEED TO KNOW: The Grizzlies with an average of 31.6 points are outscoring the Wolves by 8.8 points in the fourth quarter in the series, by far the largest disparity in this postseason.
&mdash;KEEP AN EYE ON: Bane. He averaged 30 points and shot 15 of 27 outside the arc in Games 3 and 4, the first two games in Minnesota. Bane joined Klay Thompson (three straight) and Stephen Curry (two) as only the third player in NBA history to make at least seven 3-pointers in back-to-back playoff games. He is shooting 48.3% from 3-point range on the road this season for both the regular season and playoffs.
&mdash;INJURY WATCH: Grizzlies center Steven Adams entered the COVID-19 health and safety protocols and will not play in Game 6. Backup forward Ziaire Williams (right knee soreness) was listed as doubtful for the game. Morant and Edwards have both played through minor leg injuries, but they have not been limited in any way.
&mdash;PRESSURE IS ON: Brooks. He was 3 of 18 shooting in Game 5, including 1 of 10 from 3-point range, and finished with eight points.
___
AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker contributed to this report.

The Timberwolves will try to stave off elimination by the Grizzlies in Game 6 on Friday night.

Timberwolves try to avoid 'hero' ball, stay alive vs. Grizzlies

A perfectly orchestrated out-of-bounds set is a thing of beauty.&nbsp;
Plays ran after timeouts, or ATOs as they're commonly referred to, are by far the most intricately designed sets in any NBA game.
We hear the phrase "read and react" quite frequently, but that's truly the best way to describe the typical flow of NBA offenses. Possessions in the half-court without any sort of stoppage regularly feature some sort of pick-and-roll or handoff action, maybe with 1-to-2 additional tinkerings depending on the team you're watching. But the point is: There is a great deal of freelancing going on out there. These guys are pros for a reason &mdash; they don't need a guy in a suit telling them exactly&nbsp;what to do for every second of the game.
ATOs, however, are quite different. They allow head coaches to step in, sit down with their players for a full minute and 15 seconds, precisely rehearse and recall a scripted action from practice, and, most of all, tactically prey on the weaknesses of an opponent.&nbsp;
And when they're executed well? Sheesh, there's truly nothing better.&nbsp;
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Now, just for size, imagine watching two back-to-back successful ATOs in the final eight seconds of a playoff game. That'd be crazy, right? Huh?! For all my play-by-play geeks out there?
Alas, that is what happened during Tuesday's Game 5 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Memphis Grizzlies.
Let's set the stage a little bit: This contest was not a gorgeous showing of pristine execution. It was a back-and-forth, frenetic affair, with both teams streaking up-and-down the floor like the Gatorade coolers had been spiked with C4 pre-workout. All of that speed didn't necessarily equate to production; collectively, both teams turned the ball over a ghastly 39 total times, and Memphis couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from deep at just 25.0% (7 of 28).
Minnesota controlled the tempo for most of Tuesday's game, building a lead as large as 13 in the second half. The Grizzlies looked dead in the water on their home floor, unable to get much of anything going in the halfcourt. Then, Ja Morant did this, and the mood completely changed...
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Chasing History -Episode 12 🏆 A jaw-dropping dunk&hellip;.a clutch late 3&hellip;.a game-winning shot. Ja Morant did it all in game 5, leading the Grizzlies to victory over the Timberwolves to take the 3-2 series lead. <a href="https://t.co/pKbwxriEws">pic.twitter.com/pKbwxriEws</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1519677816828313601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

(Seriously, it's tough to get enough of this freakin' dunk. BBN's Mark Schindler even <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ja-morants-jadropping-dunk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote an entire article on it</a>! I mean, what the actual HECK, Temetrius Jamel Morant.)
That audacious poster lit something inside of Morant, who went on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-the-grizzlies-helped-ja-morant-find-himself-as-a-scorer-in-game-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an absolute tear in the final period of the game</a>, eventually boosting his fourth-quarter point total to 16 after a pair of free throws. This put Memphis up by 3 with just eight seconds remaining.
With the first-round series hanging in the balance at 2-2, Minnesota needed a three-pointer more than ever to even things up at 109 apiece. And gosh darn it, Wolves head coach Chris Finch delivered.&nbsp;
Minnesota sets things up with Jordan McLaughlin inbounding, its two strongest offensive players &mdash; Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards &mdash;on the strong side of the floor and D'Angelo Russell and Jaden McDaniels on the weak side.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2022-04-27-at-4-24-57-pm_lg.png" alt="" width="699" height="373" />
McLaughlin inbounds the ball to Towns at the left slot to initiate things. All the while, McDaniels streaks toward the left dunker spot and Russell brushes a backscreen for McDaniels. Then, Russell proceeds to "ghost" or fake a secondary back-screen for Edwards cutting up from the low block to the right slot.
Here's a video of that specific action involving that trio of players:
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cIxs0UZKxKU" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In the end, it was a simple exchange of positioning; McDaniels had replaced Russell in the right dunker spot, Edwards had taken McDaniels' place as the lifted shooter on the weak side of the floor, and Russell was now in Edwards' spot on the strong side. But most importantly, Brandon Clarke, the largest Grizzly available, was now tasked with manning rim-protection duties as the "low man."
Now, let's zoom out a bit. Minnesota inbounds the ball to its most dangerous offensive player, Towns, who at this point has scored a team-high 28 points on the night. Yet as the inbounder, it's McLaughlin who is technically the most dangerous player on the floor, and so Towns immediately returns the rock to give the zippy backup a running start. As such, McLaughlin gains a step on his defender, Kyle Anderson, and this causes Clarke to hesitate for a second, unsure if he's supposed to protect the rim or track the weak-side shooters.
Because Clarke decides to hold his ground in the paint, Morant then becomes responsible for "zoning up" and guarding the two weak-side offensive players, Edwards and McDaniels. So, Edwards drifts down to the baseline for deep positioning to create a brutally tough angle of recovery, and McDaniels sets a back-screen on Edwards' man (Morant).
This specific screening setup is known as "exit" action, where one offensive player pins the "zoned-up" defender with a screen to generate a corner three for his teammate. (Finch loves&nbsp;his exit-screen plays, I tell ya.)
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2022-04-27-at-5-03-55-pm_lg.png" alt="" width="699" height="360" />
McLaughlin flicks a ridiculous bounce pass to the corner like he's skipping rocks across a pond, and Edwards&mdash;quietly shooting ~42% on catch-and-shoot threes in the regular season and postseason&mdash;nails the corner jumper over an excellent closeout from Clarke.
Here's Finch's pi&egrave;ce de r&eacute;sistance in full:
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qxrbo9dRmFw" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Tie game at 109.
Which meant it was Taylor Jenkins' time to cook for the Grizzlies' response.
Unlike Minnesota, Memphis set up by overloading one side of the floor with Desmond Bane, Anderson and Morant all sharing the strong side, and Tyus Jones on the weak side.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2022-04-27-at-5-24-36-pm_lg.png" alt="" width="700" height="376" />
Morant sets a cross-screen for Jones to cut across the paint, only to have Ja then come off a pindown screen from Desmond Bane. This specific action is known as "screen the screener," in which a player (Morant here) sets a screen for one teammate (Jones) and then receives a screen from another (Bane). Meanwhile, Anderson cuts across the paint from the left corner to the right slot to drag Minnesota's only rim-protector, Towns, completely out of the play.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lm0aeup-Pe8" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Memphis' screen-the-screener setup, or STS, forces Morant's defender (Edwards) to navigate not one, but two&nbsp;off-ball screens while tracking the hottest player on the floor. Edwards falls slightly behind the lightning-quick Morant, and exasperates things by gambling for the steal. Ant giveth, Ant taketh.
Now, Morant has the advantage with a free lane to the rim and Clarke in the right dunker spot. Jarred Vanderbilt rotates over to the stop the drive, and Towns inexplicably (??) turns his body away from the ball instead of rotating down to Clarke. This effectively leaves Vanderbilt in no man's land, forced to defend perhaps the best downhill dude in the league and&nbsp;a premier lob-threat... and, well, you know the rest.
Let's see the full play.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wNWz6GWXyjE" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Game. Set. Match. The Grizzlies went on to win Game 5 by a final of 111-109, and took an emphatic 3-2 lead in the series all behind Morant's 18 fourth-quarter points.
And sure, the night was dominated by the highlights (again, whew, that dunk), but it's sequences like the final eight seconds that make this NBA game what it is &mdash; great.
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&nbsp;

Matt Brooks gives kudos to both Chris Finch and Taylor Jenkins for their ATOs in the crucial moments of Game 5 in Memphis.

Applauding Chris Finch and Taylor Jenkins' ATO play-calling wizardry

During the regular season, Ja Morant was one of the league&rsquo;s most prolific and productive downhill adventurers.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;sort=DRIVES&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">He averaged 20.9 drives per game</a> (third-most in the NBA) and shot 51.0% on those drives. Despite playing just 57 games, his 828 points resutling from drives led all players.
Once he mounted a head of steam, containing his powerful acrobatics was an incredibly arduous task for defenses. That prowess fueled Morant's scoring leap, as he averaged 27.4 points on 57.5% True Shooting en route to winning the Most Improved Player award.
Yet from Games 2-4 in the Memphis Grizzlies&rsquo; first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Morant&rsquo;s profits attacking the rim dried up, which subsequently hampered his overall scoring numbers.&nbsp;
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During that span, <a href="https://streamable.com/me9rj6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Morant thrived as a playmaker</a>, delivering 35 assists to 11 turnovers and amplifying the divergent off-ball scoring chops of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/brandon-clarke-is-slipping-through-the-cracks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brandon Clarke</a> and Desmond Bane. But Minnesota&rsquo;s tactic had clearly flustered his individual success.
In those games, Morant averaged just 16.7 points on 45.9% TS and shot 38.7% on 62 drives. After 20 free-throw attempts in Game 1, he had just 17 total over the ensuing three outings. Halfway through Game 5, Morant had 6 points and 7 dimes (although, an uncharacteristic 2 of 7 showing at the line helped stymie him as well). Another pass-heavy approach was percolating.&nbsp;
With the Timberwolves loading help in the paint and at <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2013/12/19/5227374/nba-defense-breakdown-nail-spurs-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the nail</a>, Morant&rsquo;s passing grew in importance, and his scoring suffered. They sagged off Memphis&rsquo; cast of generally timid, unthreatening floor-spacers, and directed focus to the star guard in front of them.&nbsp;
On most of his drives, a defender confronted Morant at the nail as three, sometimes four, bodies awaited him near the rim. Stunts from the strong side (usually a no-go for defenses) were commonplace. His once-dynamic finishing was better classified as erratic.
The Grizzlies ranked just 28th in three-point rate (.346) and 17th in percentage (35.3%) in the regular season. So, Minnesota dared them to convert beyond the arc and refused to offer Morant runways for his trampoline-bounce to shine.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/sws55r" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Pause those clips above. Process the positioning of Minnesota&rsquo;s help defenders and how much room Memphis&rsquo; shooters are granted. On the final play, both Anthony Edwards and Jarred Vanderbilt tag the roller, likely in case Morant wiggles around Karl-Anthony Towns&rsquo; hedge and explodes to the hoop. That&rsquo;s a whole lot of attention on one dude.
To Memphis&rsquo; and Morant&rsquo;s credit, Game 5 was full of experimentation to open driving lanes for him. Whether he initiated offense from different spots (top of the key vs. the wings), he began possessions off the ball to operate as a screener/second-creator or the floor-spacing was rearranged, everyone involved worked to find him some breathing room.&nbsp;
In the second half, those efforts were rewarded and the dam broke, particularly amid Memphis&rsquo; fourth-quarter, 13-point comeback. Morant scored 24 points after intermission, including 16 over the final seven minutes, when the Grizzlies closed with Morant, Bane, Clarke, Tyus Jones and Dillon Brooks once Jaren Jackson Jr. fouled out.
That lineup didn&rsquo;t record a single minute together in the regular season and debuted for two minutes in Game 4. By surrounding Morant with four ball-handling/play-finishing threats, Memphis provided him with more space and complicated Minnesota&rsquo;s "contain Ja at all costs" approach.&nbsp;
When bigs like Jackson or Xavier Tillman occupy the dunker spot, the Timberwolves are content helping off because neither is a particularly adept scorer around the basket. When Clarke is there, abandoning him to help on Morant is riskier, given Clarke&rsquo;s premier finishing and Morant&rsquo;s interior passing genes.
Minnesota has also routinely aimed to avoid involving Towns in ball-screens against Morant, which continued in the fourth quarter. That strategy gave Morant increased space as a driver and cleaner finishing angles over the top, while also forcing the Timberwolves&rsquo; defense into rotation more often.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/26syia" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Small-ball was not the Grizzlies&rsquo; only avenue to springing free Morant and their collective offense. They really emphasized emptying the wings to muddle Minnesota&rsquo;s aggressive stunt-and-recovers. Rotating to the nail/elbows is much tougher when someone&rsquo;s assignment is stationed in the corner.
They also utilized double ball-screens for Morant out of a Horns alignment. Doing so removed a big man from the dunker spot altogether, and empowered Ja to work off the ball rather than needing to spearhead every action. Without help looming around every ball-screen, the third-year guard slalomed into the paint and gained traction to bring his squad a crucial Game 5 victory.
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By night&rsquo;s end, Memphis was plus-14 with the Morant-Jones-Bane-Brooks-Clarke quintet on the court. Morant scored 16 of its 21 points, headlined by a 9 of 10 performance at the free-throw line in the fourth.&nbsp;
Both in the half-court and transition, he repeatedly shimmied downhill and scored or drew fouls. His driving acumen also repopulated. Across his 45 minutes, he tallied 31 drives, shooting 50.0% (7 of 14) on them, taking 10 free throws and scoring 19 points. His pair of assists post-halftime were also emblematic of renewed scoring comfort.
Aside from Game 2, Memphis and Minnesota have been tangled in close battle after close battle. Morant&rsquo;s struggled in certain aspects throughout these contests and amended his approach to still fashion positive contributions. On Tuesday, though, the team amended its approach to unlock the effervescent 22-year-old.&nbsp;
Now, the Grizzlies sit one win away from their first playoff series victory since 2014-15, with their franchise star guiding them and enjoying his finest stretch of postseason basketball this year.
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Jackson Frank analyzes how the Grizzlies were able to get Ja Morant going on offense after struggling to find scoring comfort.

How the Grizzlies helped Ja Morant find himself as a scorer in Game 5

Ja Morant scored on a layup with a second left, and the Memphis Grizzlies rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to edge the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-109 on Tuesday night and grab a 3-2 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.
Morant, named the NBA&rsquo;s most improved player on Monday, struggled mightily much of the game. But he turned it on in the fourth quarter, scoring 18 points &mdash; including 9 of 10 at the free-throw line.
Morant came from the low post as the Grizzlies inbounded the ball with 3.7 seconds left and lost Anthony Edwards at the top of the key. That left him an open lane into the paint that he&rsquo;s so rarely had in this series, beating Jarred Vanderbilt with his left hand on an underhanded layup.
Morant finished with 30 and had 13 rebounds and nine assists. Desmond Bane added 25 points, and Brandon Clarke had 21 off the bench for Memphis, and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 12 before fouling out.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Anthony Edwards had 22, and D'Angelo Russell added 12 and Taurean Prince 10.
Game 6 is Friday night in Minnesota.
The Timberwolves led 99-88 with 6:58 left after three free throws by Towns and Jackson fouling out for a second straight game. The Grizzlies responded with a 10-0 run to set up a thrilling finish to what had been an ugly game with plenty of poor shooting.
Edwards tied it up at 109 for Minnesota with a 3 with 3.7 seconds left. That set up Morant for the final drive to the basket for the game-winner.
Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins was fined $15,000 Monday for criticizing the officiating after Game 4, a 119-118 win by Minnesota. On Tuesday, his Grizzlies got to the free-throw line more than Minnesota &mdash; they just didn&rsquo;t shoot well once there, making 26 of 39 compared to Minnesota's 21 of 24.
The Grizzlies opened the game on a 13-2 run and looked liked the team that earned the highest seed in franchise history.
Then Jackson got his second foul on Patrick Beverley&rsquo;s 3 and went to the bench. The Timberwolves, the NBA&rsquo;s best 3-point shooting team in the regular season, started knocking down shots, going 7 of 11 outside the arc and leading 31-28 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was a different story, with Minnesota hitting only 1 of 9 outside the arc and leading 55-53 at halftime.
Minnesota outscored Memphis 30-21 in the third, but <a href="https://twitter.com/memgrizz/status/1519128062952189952">Morant capped the quarter with a windmill dunk that helped give the Grizzlies some much-needed energy. </a>
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: Russell came in 17 of 55 overall and 9 of 24 from beyond the arc in this series. He knocked down his first two shots Tuesday, a pair of back-to-back 3s, and finished 2 of 4 from 3 and 4 of 10 from the floor. ... Beverley had their first four-point play in the postseason at 8:14 of the first quarter.
Grizzlies: Bane got a technical in the second quarter for shoving Timberwolves coach Chris Finch. Bane also opened the game with his 20th 3-point in this series. ... Ziaire Williams played four minutes and did not finish the game with a sore right knee.
IN THE CROWD
Pau Gasol and Zach Randolph were former Grizzlies in attendance along with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Kentucky coach John Calipari sat near the Timberwolves' bench. Alex Rodriguez, a Minnesota co-owner, also was in attendance, and <a href="https://twitter.com/memgrizz/status/1519103401333866497">Usher was on hand</a> as well <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1519109240065040384">sitting next to Morant's father Tee</a>.

Ja Morant scored on a layup with a second left, and the Grizzlies rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to edge the Wolves.

Morant's last-second layup gives Grizzlies 3-2 series lead

Every day, BasketballNews.com gives you NBA betting analysis before tip-off. Make sure you subscribe to our daily podcast, &ldquo;Nothing But Bets&rdquo; on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nothing-but-bets/id1589799249" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apple Podcasts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6zNxt0NQXPmKuryAdz89m0?si=1038d121100444fd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotify</a>&nbsp;or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s dive into our favorite NBA spread bets for the night portion of Monday's postseason slate.
Memphis Grizzlies (-6) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
This series has been so fun to watch come together, and it now shifts back to Memphis tied up heading into Game 5. Both the Grizzlies and Timberwolves have certain advantages over each other, but they are also very similar in their DNA as well. Not only can they explode on the offensive end, but the defense can be surprisingly good at points as well. On Tuesday night, this feels like the perfect opportunity for Ja Morant to remind everyone just how special of a player he truly is.
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&nbsp;
&mdash; Tuesday, April 26th Minnesota Timberwolves @ Memphis Grizzlies</blockquote>

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After struggling in his last outing, we&rsquo;re forecasting Morant and his backcourt partner Desmond Bane to light up the scoreboard. Projecting this series to end in seven, the home team gets the nod here to win and cover the spread.
Pick: Grizzlies -6
Player Props: Ja Morant over 26.5 points, Anthony Edwards over 23.5 points, Desmond Bane over 3.5 threes, Karl-Anthony Towns over 1.5 threes
Phoenix Suns (-6.5) vs. New Orleans Pelicans
What a weird turn this series has taken since Devin Booker exited due to a strained left hamstring in Game 2. Without Booker, the Suns are struggling to find any sort of offensive consistency. Meanwhile, the Pelicans have all the momentum on their side behind a masterclass playoff debut from Brandon Ingram. However, in Game 5, we&rsquo;re rolling with the home team to win outright and cover the 6.5-point spread.
Chris Paul is due for a solid outing, especially after he was put in clamps by underrated rookie Jose Alvarado in Game 4. Behind a big bounce-back performance from Paul, plus some of the Suns&rsquo; shooters finally hitting three-pointers, lock in the Suns -6.5 with confidence.
Pick: Suns -6.5
Player Props: Brandon Ingram over 26.5 points, Deandre Ayton over 21.5 points, Chris Paul over 12.5 assists, Jonas Valanciunas over 12.5 rebounds
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Who are the best bets for Tuesday night's NBA playoff games? We've got you covered!

Best Bets: BasketballNews' picks and fantasy advice for 4/26/22

Karl-Anthony Towns roared back from two rough games with a career playoff-best 33 points and 14 rebounds, helping the Minnesota Timberwolves move past their Game 3 collapse and pull out a 119-118 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night to even the first-round series at 2-2.
Anthony Edwards scored 24 points and backup Jordan McLaughlin went 4 for 4 from 3-point range to pitch in 16 points as the Timberwolves relentlessly attacked the basket and went 31 for 40 from the foul line.
The series shifts back to Memphis for Game 5 on Tuesday night.
Desmond Bane, who hit his eighth 3-pointer at the buzzer to finish with 34 points, and Dillon Brooks with 24 points kept the Grizzlies going on another quiet night for star point guard Ja Morant. Morant went 4 for 13 from the floor, and had 11 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds.
Jaren Jackson Jr. fouled out with seven points, and 25 of the Grizzlies' 33 fouls were called their starters.
Towns, who took four shots and had just eight points in Game 3, hit 14 of 17 free throws and was the catalyst down the stretch with 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Patrick Beverley missed two free throws with 43 seconds left. With the Wolves leading 115-110, Morant answered with a layup and Edwards missed a pull-up 3. But Tyus Jones had his 3-pointer fall short with 10.5 seconds to go, and Edwards grabbed the rebound. He sank both free throws as the crowd chanted, &ldquo;Wolves in six! Wolves in six!&rdquo;
McLaughlin's first 3 put Minnesota in front in the second quarter to start a 17-1 run that maxed out with a 50-35 lead &mdash; the largest of the night that quickly got whittled by the Grizzles back down to single digits.
The Wolves might have been better off playing a tighter game this time, after their pair of 25-point advantages in Game 3 went for naught.
AMPED UP
Game 3 was an anomaly, considering the Timberwolves were just the ninth NBA team in 389 situations over the past 25 postseasons to lead by 25-plus points and lose the game, <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1517325199611469824" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to ESPN.</a>
And while it fits right into the Minnesota sports scene that has been filled for decades with such disappointment, the crowd didn&rsquo;t quit on creating a raucous advantage Saturday.
Troy Hudson and Wally Szczerbiak, standouts on the last Timberwolves team that captivated the town in 2004, were courtside with an endless supply of high-fives for fans seated nearby.
When Towns swished a 3 from the top of the key on the first possession, a jet-like roar followed.
Towns knew how critical the game was and came out with a ferocity suggesting he knew precisely how much criticism he'd been dealt for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-timberwolves-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-chris-finch-f5eecbb956912af32863cd408990434d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his Game 3 dud</a>. When he hit his opening 3, he looked down at his hands and yelled to no one in particular about the importance of passing him the ball.
BUMPS AND BRUISES
Bodies crashed to the floor on almost every possession in what was perhaps the most physical game of the series to date. Morant, who has been playing through nagging leg injuries, took several hard landings after layup attempts.
Grizzlies backup Ziaire Williams sustained an eye injury in the second quarter, when Morant drew a flagrant foul on D&rsquo;Angelo Russell as he drove to the hoop and caught a hand to the face.
Edwards left for a bit in the first quarter with an injury to his right knee unrelated to any contact, but after having trouble walking to the locker room for further examination he returned less than 3 minutes later without any trouble.
PROTEST, INTERRUPTED
Two more animal rights protesters attempted to interrupt the game in the third quarter. One woman <a href="https://twitter.com/GrizzOnBally/status/1518074056339296256" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leaped over the courtside seats</a> of Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and his wife, Becky, before being tackled by security and carried away. Her companion remained behind the Taylors and next to the second row of Timberwolves assistant coaches, who helped security wrestle her out.
The group has been protesting the way that a chicken farm that's part of Taylor's enterprises has allegedly handled an avian flu outbreak. The highly contagious virus <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-health-environment-iowa-animals-d76524dace2b34e2cb0dc25925cead65" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has killed roughly 28 million poultry</a>.
TIP-INS
Grizzlies: Xavier Tillman started at center, the fourth player in the series for the Grizzlies in an opening-half lineup to join Jaren Jackson Jr. in the frontcourt as coach Taylor Jenkins continued to employ a variety of methods for trying to take Towns out of his element. Brandon Clarke, Kyle Anderson and Steven Adams have all taken turns. ... Brooks, who was listed as questionable to play with a sore left foot, shot 10 for 20.
Timberwolves: Beverley had 17 points. ... Jarred Vanderbilt had 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Minnesota Timberwolves moved past their Game 3 collapse and pulled out a 119-118 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

Timberwolves beat Grizzlies 119-118 to even series at 2-2

Much was made about Steven Adams' role in the Memphis Grizzlies' Game 1 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. His lack of mobility made him a natural fit for drop coverage, and drop coverage gave the Wolves -- namely Anthony Edwards -- pockets to attack in the half-court.&nbsp;
There was a shift made in Game 2, astutely pointed out by our own Mat Issa and Justin Lewis: almost no Adams (2:50 of game time), a whole lot of Xavier Tillman and Brandon Clarke (nearly 42 combined minutes) and infinitely more ground coverage defensively. Ball screens were played higher and switched more frequently. The Wolves didn't score with the same ease.&nbsp;
To that point: The Wolves generated roughly 1.08 points per possession (PPP) on trips featuring a ball screen in Game 1. That number has dropped to 1.01 PPP across Game 2 and 3, per Second Spectrum tracking data.
Mission accomplished for the Grizzlies.
I have a question, though: why isn't more being made about what that rotation tweak has done to the Grizzlies'&nbsp;offense?
Much like the Grizzlies struggled to contain the Wolves' pick-and-roll attack in Game 1, they also struggled themselves. There's been a similar upward trend over their last two games: 0.81 PPP in Game 1, and 1.06 PPP over the last two games.
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No disrespect intended to Tillman, but that boost is almost completely attributed to the connection between Ja Morant (it's been weird series for him, to say the least) and Clarke. Through three games, the Grizzlies are scoring nearly 1.2 PPP on trips featuring a Morant-Clarke ball screen, and a ridiculous 1.3&nbsp;PPP&nbsp;when a possession ends with a hookup between those two.
A couple of notes on that, before we dig into the film:
<ul>
<li>The Morant-Clarke combo is one of three playoff duos generating at least 1.3 PPP on direct plays (minimum 20 picks). The other two: Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton (1.3 PPP on a playoff-leading 99 picks), and the James Harden-Joel Embiid partnership (1.37 PPP on 48 picks). The Morant-Clarke duo is at 46 picks, so it's not like a small sample is putting them in places they don't belong.</li>
<li>The zoomed-out number -- 1.19 PPP on possessions featuring a Morant-Clarke pick-and-roll -- would've&nbsp;easily&nbsp;led the NBA among high volume combos. They are doing the darn thing.</li>
</ul>
I've bored you with enough numbers. Let's look at the why,&nbsp;shall we?
CATCHING YOU SLIPPIN'
To understand Clarke's place in the Wolves' demise, you have to get into what the Wolves want to accomplish.&nbsp;
This is an aggressive bunch. They want to take away airspace when defending pick-and-rolls, force the ball out of your playmaker's hands and then rotate behind that pressure to create turnovers or swat shots away at the rim.
During the regular season, only the Portland Trail Blazers (15.4 picks per 100 possesions) hedged or outright blitzed pick-and-rolls at a higher rate than the Wolves (14.6).
For big men trying to create offense against this scheme, a comfort in space -- as passers and scorers -- is required. There's a reason the Stephen Curry-Draymond Green combo has been eating people's lunches for darn-near a decade. Draymond is such a smart passer and quick processor that any cracks in your defense will be beat.
Clarke isn't Draymond, but he's both a better athlete and intermediate scorer. Showing high against pick-and-rolls featuring Clarke plays into his gifts. He's able to slip against pressure, has a wildly effective floater -- evidenced by his career 50.5% clip on shots between 3-10 feet -- and passes well enough to make help defenders pay if they drop down into the paint.&nbsp;
These are missed opportunities, but I want to give you an idea of the kind of plays that are available with Clarke in the mix.
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In order, we've got:
<ol>
<li>Clarke slipping into open space when the Grizzlies went to their Double-High action out of HORNS</li>
<li>An early offense, empty corner PnR that led to a butt-naked-open Dillon Brooks triple</li>
<li>A ram screen (Desmond Bane for Clarke) that flows into a Spain PnR that led to Morant free throws, but also saw Bane pop open above the arc</li>
</ol>
These are the goods.
And again, it's worth pointing out Clarke's ability as a scorer. He has feathery touch that you can track back to the latter portion of his college days. That, plus his ability to handle the ball, allows him to make plays on the roll. Add in his leaping -- no, wait -- gliding ability and you have yourself a pretty dynamic roll threat.
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Clarke is averaging 16.5 points while converting roughly 69% of his twos over his past two games. It might be time for the Wolves to go to the drawing board.
We've already seen them try to adjust. Karl-Anthony Towns' foul trouble surely played a part, but it was interesting to watch the Wolves try to pre-switch and have a quicker player take on Clarke. In the video above, you can see Malik Beasley (first clip) and D'Angelo Russell (third clip) attempt the job.&nbsp;
But guards aren't used to defending ball&nbsp;screeners. Maybe we'll see more outright switching (and scram switching after that) to flatten out the Grizzlies' attack. The Wolves are gonna have to do something.
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Nekias Duncan breaks down the offensive impact of Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke.

Brandon Clarke is slipping through the cracks

Desmond Bane made seven 3-pointers and had 26 points and the Memphis Grizzlies overcame a 26-point deficit to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-95 on Thursday night for a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Brandon Clarke scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half for Memphis, and Ja Morant had a quiet triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Tyus Jones hit two dagger 3-pointers against his former team down the stretch, and the Grizzlies seized back home-court advantage. They stunned a Wolves team that won Game 1 on the road 130-117, but took an ugly 124-96 loss in Game 2.
Game 4 is on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
D'Angelo Russell had 22 points and eight assists as the key driver of a third-quarter surge for the Wolves that pushed the lead back to 23 points, but he went 0 for 3 and was scoreless in the fourth. Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota's other max-contract player, had another clunker with eight points.
In this compelling matchup of Western Conference rivals with similar temperaments, fast-paced offenses and young star guards in Morant and Anthony Edwards, yet another game swung wildly back and forth between the two sides before the Grizzlies flashed their moxie for the largest comeback playoff victory in franchise history.
After taking a 47-21 lead early in the second quarter with a deafening roar in the 32-year-old downtown arena as the soundtrack, the Wolves were outscored 15-0 over the final 5:45 of the second quarter by a Grizzlies team that's been grappling with the same postseason inexperience and emotional immaturity resulting in bad shot selection and foolish, avoidable fouls.
After the NBA's highest-scoring team made only 30 field goals in Game 2 to match a season low, the Wolves hit only 33 in Game 3. They went 8:34 of game time between the second and third quarters without a basket until Russell swished a 3.
Jones, who grew up in the Twin Cities and was drafted by the Timberwolves the same year as Towns, hit a 3-pointer to give the Grizzlies their first lead at 86-85. Memphis never trailed again.
SMALL TOWNS
Towns only made one trip to the foul line with just six points over the final three quarters of Game 2, and after coach Chris Finch implored him to play a &ldquo;cleaner game&rdquo; the two-time All-Star center struggled again. Towns picked up his fifth foul with 9:24 left and spent much of the fourth quarter on the bench.
SAME ENERGY
The Target Center crowds came to life around midseason when Russell called the fans out for being too quiet, and these long-exasperated backers of one of the NBA's worst-performing franchises were up to the task for just the third playoff game here in the last 18 years.
The Wolves took a 12-0 lead, before Bane finally put the Grizzlies on the board with a 3, as the &ldquo;Defense!&rdquo; chants ramped up a few decibel levels and took on a deeper meaning. They could hardly do any wrong for the first 15 minutes of game time, as evidenced by Beverley's tip-in of his own miss for a 49-28 lead midway through the second quarter.
He slipped as he drove toward the lane, kept his dribble alive from a near-seated position and flung a desperate floater at the basket.
HARD SHIFT
The Grizzlies used a 23-4 run over the final 10:28 of the second quarter to make a game of this. Russell was called for a charge with 3:21 to go on his drive and banked-in layup that would've given the Wolves a 17-point lead. The challenge by Finch was for naught, and the Wolves missed three 3-pointers and a layup over the rest of the half.
TIP-INS
Grizzlies: Kyle Anderson started for the Grizzlies in place of Steven Adams, who was dominated by Towns in Game 1 and played only 3 minutes in Game 2. Adams didn't leave the bench. Anderson had four points in 26 minutes. ... Jaren Jackson Jr. scored just six points and had five fouls.
Timberwolves: Edwards had 19 points and seven rebounds in 40 minutes. ... Russell went 5 for 22 from the field in the first two games. He was 9 for 21 in Game 3.
OH, DAD
Towns and Morant each had their fathers cheering them on from courtside seats again &mdash; and this time the two friends were right next to each other. Tee Morant watched through designer sunglasses beneath a black bucket hat. Karl Towns, who wore a dark blue Timberwolves hat and a black KN95 mask, at one point helped the arena hype men by tossing a couple of T-shirts into the crowd during a timeout.

Desmond Bane made seven 3-pointers and had 26 points and the Grizzlies overcame a 26-point deficit to shock the Timberwolves.

Grizzlies claw back from 26 down, beat Wolves in Game 3

Mat Issa raves over Jordan Poole regarding his three-level scoring and how his ceiling may be higher than once thought.

Jordan Poole is even better than we could've imagined

The Minnesota Timberwolves made a statement by taking Game 1 of their first-round matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday afternoon. The statement was loud and it was clear &mdash; their seed was not indicative of their talent.
Tuesday night's Game 2 was a must-win for the Grizzlies, as higher seeds that have gone down 0-2 have only come back twice from such a hole.
The NBA Playoffs are all about the adjustments from game to game and which team can win the chess match. Whether by accident, chance or plan, the Grizzlies put the Timberwolves in check but is the adjustment enough for a checkmate? I worked with our Mat Issa of BasketballNews.com to look at the moves by Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins in Game 2.
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In Game 1, Steven Adams was simply not useful, mate. After a turnaround year in Memphis, the New Zealand big man found himself hurting his team more than helping. It was a similar story for the Grizzlies, as last year Jonas Valanciunas had a career year during the regular season &mdash; only to become a defensive liability vs. the Utah Jazz in the 2021 first round.
It should have been predicted. This season, Adams had 2 of his 6 lowest minute totals in a game, 2 of his 5 worst plus-minus games and 2 of his 3 lowest rebounding totals in a game &mdash; all against Minnesota. In fact, in 25 career matchups against the Wolves, Adams has been a net positive player only 11 times, with his last coming in January 2020.&nbsp;
In this postseason's series opener, Adams played 24 minutes, taking 0 shots and grabbing only 3 rebounds while picking up 4 fouls. Much of Memphis' success in the regular season revolved around Adams' ability to grab offensive rebounds &mdash; a key reason as to why the Grizzlies led the league in second-chance points. But in Game 1, Memphis lost both the rebound and the second-chance battles.&nbsp;
Defensively, Adams had no place on the floor. The Timberwolves adjusted to how Memphis was playing Karl-Anthony Towns in the pick-and-roll, and it was all she wrote. KAT would pop and then simply beat Adams off the dribble time after time. Steven became borderline unplayable.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Steven Adams as primary defender: Twolves 12/16 on FGs (75%), 2/3 from 3 (66%) With other Grizz starters as primary defender: Twolves 23/58 on FGs (40%), 10/26 on 3s (38.4%) With Grizz reserves as primary defender: Twolves 19/33 FGs (58%) 5/14 on 3s (37.5%)
&mdash; Shawn Coleman (@StatsSAC) <a href="https://twitter.com/StatsSAC/status/1515692055896510468?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2022</a></blockquote>

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On this possession, Anthony Edwards puts Adams in a PNR with Towns, a common theme in the game. While Ja Morant was in good help position to stop the drive, Adams plays drop coverage, giving Ant all the space he needed to knock down the shot.&nbsp;
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Adams finds himself defending yet another PNR with Edwards and Towns, where now the Timberwolves have adjusted, sending KAT on a pop. Again, Morant is in help position to stop the drive while Adams is in drop coverage, but this time Edwards kicks it to KAT. Rather than settling for the three, Towns beats Adams off the dribble, as he is too slow to slide in front.
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Although this ends up being a blocked shot, this is a microcosm of the issue for Memphis. Out on the perimeter, Adams gets beat off the dribble by Towns, again, and puts pressure on Jaren Jackson Jr. &mdash; who is in foul trouble&mdash; to clean up the mess. Memphis needs JJJ on the floor way more than it needs Adams, so situations like this need to be avoided if possible.&nbsp;
Just 2 minutes and 50 seconds into Game 2, Adams came out of the game for the Grizzlies with a couple of fouls; the big man finished the contest with 2:50 of playing time. Who knows if Jenkins planned to make this adjustment or not, but the insertion of Xavier Tillman Sr. and extended minutes of Brandon Clarke have likely altered the course of this series.
The flashes were there with Clarke in Game 1. His switchability on defense has always been a key to his game, so despite being outsized by Towns, Clarke is able to switch on the ball-screens rather than play drop coverage. It seemed obvious that an increase in minutes for Brandon was due in Game 2.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What are the chances that Tillman gets a look in the MEM/MIN series?
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1516100131392786432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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In a world where it is commonplace to shrink rotations in the playoffs, Jenkins went to his 11th man in Tillman. As a reminder, X is no stranger to high stakes moments; let's remember he did this in overtime agaisnt the Warriors, on the road, in last year's Play-In Tournament:
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In almost 21 minutes of play &mdash; roughly the total of Adams' playing time in Game 1 &mdash; Tillman scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in Game 2. He also went an impressively efficient 6 of 7 from the field, which was a bonus because Tillman had one job: to defend.&nbsp;
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Compared to Jackson and Clarke, Tillman's impact against KAT is his strength. While not as agile as JJJ and Clarke, Tillman has the strength to take the body blows from Towns. On this possession, Tillman is both quick enough to stay with Towns and strong enough to withstand the shoulder check and recover to contest the shot.
Towns made 11 shots in Game 1; he only attempted 7 field goals in Game 2. Some of that was his own foul trouble, but with the subtraction of Adams, the easy opportunities were not there for Minnesota's All-Star center.
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In addition to Tillman, Clake's versatility was on full display in Game 2 with a number of perimeter opportunities on defense.
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In Game 1, Edwards took advantage of the PNR, taking 12 shots inside the arc on his way to a 36-point night.
In Game 2, when someone like Clarke or Kyle Anderson switched onto Edwards, the ability to get downhill was neutralized. Of his 16 total shots, Edwards took 10 of them from beyond the arc. If the presence of Clarke causes Edwards to settle for jumpers, that is a win for Memphis.
The adjustment for Minnesota is more so an adjustment for Edwards in Game 3. Mat Issa believes that Edwards has the ability to dribble by almost any player Memphis may throw at him, so he needs to play with an agression rather than settling for long jumpers.
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On this particular play, Edwards drives right by De'Anthony Melton &mdash; arguably the Grizzlies' best perimeter defender &mdash; with ease. Mat's next point is that, while Ant has to drive, his playmaking has to take the next step. Edwards has not shown the ability to consistently make the right play, so if Memphis decides to pack the paint on him (like Minnesota has done vs. Morant), you might see more of this clip.
While Edwards gets by Melton, Morant has vacated Patrick Beverley and Anderson leaves Taurean Prince &mdash; both capable corner shooters. As the defense collapses on him, Edwards gets caught in the air and makes a bad pass.
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This is a quick clip, but Edwards drives baseline and is met by a helping Clarke and Morant. Rushed by the triple team, Edwards throws the ball into the backcourt.
If Memphis continues to roll with switching guys like Clarke, Anderson and Tillman onto Edwards off the PNR, Ant is going to have to make the adjustment and slow the game down, finding his open teammates against the overhelping Memphis defense.
Game 3 is Thursday night in Minnesota. Will Memphis play Adams? Will the Timberwolves adjust?
Both teams will have to make their adjustments, as the chess match inches its way closer to its conclusion.

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With Steven Adams struggling, Justin Lewis breaks down the impact of Xavier Tillman Sr. and Brandon Clarke on the Grizzlies.

Could Brandon Clarke, Xavier Tillman be the Grizzlies' escape plan?

Ja Morant scored 23 points and handed out 10 assists as the Memphis Grizzlies looked much more like the team that posted the NBA&rsquo;s second-best record, routing the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-96 on Tuesday night to even up their first-round Western Conference series at 1 apiece.
Morant went to the bench with 4:40 left to a huge ovation. He finished a rebound shy of a triple-double. Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. each added 16 with Jackson hitting 4 of 7 from 3-point range as the Grizzlies finished with seven in double figures.
Brandon Clarke, Xavier Tillman Sr. and Ziaire Williams each had 13. Tyus Jones added 10.
Game 3 is Thursday night in Minneapolis.
Anthony Edwards, who scored 36 points in his playoff debut in Game 1, led Minnesota with 20. All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Naz Reid and Taurean Prince had 12 each off the bench, and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell added 11.
The Timberwolves dominated the series opener after scoring a franchise-record 41 points in the first quarter.&nbsp;
This time, officials stayed very busy calling 20 fouls in a very long first quarter. That kept the NBA&rsquo;s top scoring teams in the regular season from getting into any rhythm as they combined to shoot 33 free throws.
At one point, Memphis had Steven Adams, Jackson, Clarke and Dillon Brooks on the bench with two fouls. That forced coach Taylor Jenkins to turn to Tillman who didn&rsquo;t play in Game 1, and he turned in the best playoff game of his young career.
The Grizzlies grabbed their biggest lead of this short series at 30-23 on a floater by Jones with 2:11 left, and they led 33-32 after the first quarter when Morant&rsquo;s long buzzer-beater attempt hit off the rim and off.
Memphis started running in the second and opened the quarter with an 11-2 run and finished on an 11-5 run for a 60-49 lead at halftime with Morant not scoring a point. Patrick Beverley summed up Minnesota&rsquo;s struggles when his layup before the buzzer rolled off the rim.
The Grizzlies pushed that lead to as much as 27 with a 25-9 run in the third, and Morant scored 12 in the quarter hitting 5 of 7 shots, including both 3-pointers. His layup gave Memphis a 87-60 lead with 4:15 to go in the third, and the Grizzlies led 96-77 going into the fourth.
Minnesota was the NBA&rsquo;s best-shooting team outside the arc and outscored Memphis 48-21 in Game 1 as the Grizzlies shooting 26% outside the arc with only three knocking down a 3-pointer. This time, Memphis shot 11-of-34 with six Grizzlies knocking down at least one.
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: The NBA&rsquo;s top scoring team shot 39.5%. They had 30 field goals, matching the season low against Toronto on Feb. 16. ... After knocking down 16 3s in Game 1, they were 11 of 38 (28.9%). ... Russell now is 5 of 22 in this series.
Grizzlies: Entering the game had lost four of their last five games including the series opener. &hellip;Jackson, who matched his career high with seven blocks in the opener, had one Tuesday night. But he knocked down four 3s ... D&rsquo;Anthony Melton came in 8 of 26 from 3-point range. He was 2 of 6. ... Adams played three minutes after picking up two early fouls. ... They had 29 assists and now are 29-1 when they have at least 28 assists.
TESTY EARLY
It didn&rsquo;t take long in the game for things to get a bit chippy. Officials called a foul on Towns early, then on the same play got Patrick Beverley for a technical after a swipe at Morant&rsquo;s head. Then Adams got called for a foul that was upgraded to a flagrant 1 after he smacked Jarred Vanderbilt across the face. And all that was in the first three minutes.
UP NEXT
Game 3 is Thursday night in Minneapolis.

Ja Morant scored 23 points with 10 assists as the Grizzlies looked much more like the team that posted the NBA’s second-best record.

Grizzlies rout Timberwolves 124-96 to tie series at one apiece

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Without further ado, let&rsquo;s dive into our favorite NBA spread bets for the night portion of Tuesday's postseason slate.
Miami Heat (-7.5) vs. Atlanta Hawks
Miami matches up so well in this series against Atlanta. Trae Young will go off for the Hawks, but who else will help out to keep this a competitive series throughout? It&rsquo;s tough to peg, which means the Hawks are in trouble. For Game 2, Miami holds serious advantages in multiple areas. Bam Adebayo should dominate down low on both ends of the court, plus Jimmy Butler&rsquo;s presence will have a notable impact.&nbsp;
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&mdash; Tuesday, April 19th Atlanta Hawks @ Miami Heat</blockquote>

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Atlanta struggled mightily in Game 1, and there&rsquo;s no reason why you shouldn&rsquo;t forecast it to happen again. Hammer with emphasis Heat -7.5 over the Hawks.
Pick: Heat -7.5
Player Props: Trae Young over 25.5 points, Bam Adebayo over 18.5 points, Jimmy Butler over 4.5 assists, Kevin Huerter over 2.5 threes
Memphis Grizzlies (-6.5) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota has the Grizzlies on the ropes early. After throwing an uppercut to Memphis that landed in Game 1, can the Timberwolves take a convincing 2-0 series lead back to Minneapolis? With the way Anthony Edwards is playing right now, seemingly any scenario is on the table for Tuesday night. However, we&rsquo;re rolling with a big-time <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/down-but-not-out-5-keys-to-a-bounceback-grizzlies-victory-in-game-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grizzlies bounce-back opportunity</a>. Ja Morant will come out with a vengeance scoring-wise, plus his team's perimeter shooting should go back to its law of averages.
This series will likely go the distance, at least six games, but we&rsquo;re locking in the Grizzlies to win Game 2. Lock in Morant to win you back your coins.
Pick: Grizzlies -6.5
Player Props: Ja Morant over 29.5 points, Anthony Edwards over 24.5 points, Karl-Anthony Towns over 1.5 threes, Dillon Brooks over 1.5 threes
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