Starters, led by Towns, power Wolves past Grizzlies

The first home preseason game of the year resulted in a win for the Wolves in front of their home crowd.

Minnesota took down Memphis 101-94 on Wednesday night at the Target Center, improving to 4-2 this preseason.  

Carrying a 28-19 lead after the first quarter, the Wolves stepped on the gas, outscoring Memphis 63-38 in the next two quarters.

Minnesota, which held a 62-44 lead at halftime, stretched its lead to a game-high 40 points midway through the third quarter. The Grizzlies climbed back into the game in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Wolves 37-10 to end the game.

“One thing we’ve been talking about is striving to be a 48-minute team and obviously we didn’t do that. We did a lot of great things, but we didn’t close out the game,” Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We have a lot of work to do, but I don’t want to take away from the good things that were done.”

The starters led the way for the Wolves, each carrying a +/- of at least +33. Karl-Anthony Towns had a team-best 31 points and nine rebounds, Gorgui Dieng added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Zach LaVine had 18 points. Nemanja Bjelica added eight points off the bench for Minnesota.

“I like the readiness of the team, and that includes everybody,” Thibodeau said. “I liked their concentration during shoot around this morning, before the game and during that early lead. I just want us to keep getting better every day.”

Defensively, the Wolves held the Grizzlies to 39 percent shooting from the field and forced Memphis into 21 turnovers.

“On defense, I think we are playing much, much better. That’s the way you win games,” Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio said. “We are trying to learn the defense and play as a team together. It’s something we really buy in to and we are doing a pretty good job so far, but we want to improve every day.”

Wayne Selden had 17 points and five rebounds to lead Memphis. Zach Randolph had 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench, Troy Williams had 10 points and six rebounds, Mike Conley had nine points, and Marc Gasol added six points and four rebounds for the Grizzlies.

“I haven’t spent many years in this league, but this is the first time I have felt this way in the preseason,” Dieng said. “Coach always talks about closing the gap and that’s what we are trying to do. We are trying to get better every day.”

During Minnesota’s run in the second quarter, Rubio connected with Towns on a no-look pass that led to a dunk with 3:16 left in the quarter and put the Wolves up 53-36.

I think we all can agree, Towns was the Player of the Game on Wednesday night. Along with his team-best 31 points and nine rebounds, Towns had two assists and finished 17-for-17 from the line in the game.

Also, Towns played well against Gasol defensively, holding the Spaniard to six points and 2-for-10 shooting from the field.   

The Wolves will take on the Charlotte Hornets in the preseason finale at 7 p.m. Friday at the Target Center. It will be the second matchup between Minnesota and Charlotte this preseason.