Anthony Edwards scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half, Rudy Gobert had 17 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high-tying six blocks and the West-leading Minnesota Timberwolves beat the injury-ravaged Memphis Grizzlies 118-103 on Thursday night.
"I said it before he ever played here, Anthony Edwards is the most talented basketball player that the Timberwolves have ever had," says WCCO nighttime host Henry Lake. "Kevin Garnett is clearly the best player we've ever had, his worth ethic, his aggressiveness, and he had a tremendous amount of talent. But there are things Edwards had in his toolbox coming out of Georgia that Garnett never had."
Naz Reid scored 20 points and Mike Conley had 17 points and 10 assists for the Wolves, who outscored the Grizzlies 37-17 in the fourth quarter.
Jaren Jackson Jr. had 36 points and Luke Kennard added 18 points for the Grizzlies, who started their eighth starting-lineup combination in nine games this month and never let their lack of depth limit their energy as they started a four-game trip. They put on a passing and cutting clinic against the league leader in scoring defense and held the lead for the majority of the game.
Santi Aldama, who had 13 points off the bench, tried to get under Gobert’s skin with stare-downs, trash talk and lobbying the officials for foul calls on the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
But Edwards came to life with 14 points in the third quarter, at one point escaping traffic in the lane by chest-passing the ball off the backboard to himself for a dunk that sent the crowd into a frenzy. It will surely be one of the top plays of the year in the NBA, and a play that Edwards said after the game he "saw once in an All-Star game".
"That was spectacular, it was very reminiscent of a play, I want to say Tracy McGrady has done that before, and I want to say Vince Carter, but now Anthony Edwards perfected at Target Center. Unbelievable play," says Lake.
Conley had the first eight points — burying a pair of 3-pointers from the wing — on an 11-0 run for the Wolves early in the fourth that gave them the lead for good at 96-89.
The Wolves (30-11) hit the midpoint of their schedule on pace for 60 wins. The franchise record (58) was set in 2003-04 when they reached the Western Conference finals, the only year they’ve ever advanced past the first round of the playoffs. They’re 17-2 at home and 21-6 against conference opponents, too, both paces to set franchise records. The Wolves could lose their last 41 games and still finish with a better record than they had in 15 of their first 34 seasons.
"In years past, it would have been very easy for the Timberwolves to go out, beat a Detroit team that's the worst in the league, then come home and on a back-to-back, the excuse is what? It's a back-to-back. We're tired," says Lake speaking to Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News. "That was not the case. They went ahead and took care of business, nationally televised game, it was awesome."
The Grizzlies beat the Wolves in six games two years ago in an intense first-round series matching two up-and-coming teams on the verge of settling in the conference’s upper tier, but the Grizzlies have gone sideways since then.
With Ja Morant out for the rest of the season following shoulder surgery and Marcus Smart ( finger ) and Desmond Bane ( ankle ) sidelined for more than another month, the Grizzlies are missing three of their top four scorers. Veteran center Steven Adams had season-ending knee surgery, and key reserve Brandon Clarke remains sidelined since tearing his Achilles tendon more than 10 months ago. Backups Derrick Rose (hamstring) and Jake LaRavia (ankle) are out, too.
The Grizzlies went 6-3 with Morant, who started the season with a 25-game suspension from the NBA for off-the-court behavior. They’re 9-23 without him.
UP NEXT
Timberwolves: Host Oklahoma City on Saturday night.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.