MINNEAPOLIS_Saturday the Minnesota Timberwolves learned that Zach LaVine would be lost for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee. Then the team went out on the Target Center floor and played like a team whose thoughts were anywhere but on basketball.
The result was a 107-99 loss to a Memphis Grizzlies team that was playing without Marc Gasol, Chandler Parsons and Tony Allen, who were all resting on the back end of back-to-back games.
Up 18 early in the second quarter, the Wolves were out-scored 51-22 over the next 18-plus minutes, falling behind by 11 with 4:33 left in the third quarter.
The Wolves fought back and took a one-point lead on Tyus Jones' three-pointer earl y in the fourth. The Wolves were within a point after two free throws by Karl-Anthony Towns with 7:22 left. But the Grizzlies went on a16-7 run to go up by 10 with 2:32 left, essentially icing the game.
The Wolves (19-32), lost for the third straight time, opening a season-long six-game homestand with a loss against the short-handed Grizzlies (31-22).
The Wolves shot 41.7 percent and had 13 turnovers converted into 21 Grizzlies points.
JaMychal Green scored a career-high 29 points for the Grizzlies, with nine coming in the fourth quarter. Mike Conley had 20 points and eight assists.
The Wolves got a double-double from Towns (27 points, 16 rebounds). Andrew Wiggins scored 23, but needed 22 shots to do it. Ricky Rubio (14), Shabazz Muhammad (11) and Jones (10) were also in double figures.
The Wolves had runs of 7-0 and 12-0 in the first quarter, which ended with Minnesota up by 16. The first came with the game tied at six, when Wiggins scored five and Rush two in a 7-0 run that put the Wolves up 13-9. Minutes later, with the Grizzlies within 15-13, Rush's three-pointer started a 12-0 run that included the second of two three-pointers hit by Rubio in the quarter. Wiggin's layup with 1:20 left in the quarter put the Wolves up 27-13.
All five Wolves starters scored in the quarter, which ended with the Wolves up 31-15.
That lead was pushed, briefly, to 18 points with 11:22 left in the half.
The rest of the quarter ranked right up there with the worst quarters for team this season.
Outscored 33-15 over the final 11:22 of the half, the Wolves and Grizzlies were tied at 48 at halftime.
Reasons? The Wolves shot 6-for-17 in the second quarter to the Grizzlies 9-for-19. Memphis didn't turn the ball over once, but turned six Wolves turnovers into 12 points and out-scored the Wolves 13-5 at the free throw line.
A 17-point lead dropped to 10 in less than 2 minutes. The Wolves, back up 14 midway through the quarter, were outscored 21-7 in the final 6 minutes of the half.
The third quarter started out the way the second end, with the Grizzlies opening it on an 11-3 run to go up 59-51 on Ennis' three-pointer. After the Twolves scored four straight, the Grizzlies responded with eight straight of their own, taking a 66-55 lead on Vince Carter's three-pointer with 4:33 left in the third.
That made it a 51-22 Grizzlies run over a stretch of 18:49 in which the Wolves shot 8-for-27.
The Wolves still trailed by nine late in the quarter when Muhammad provided the spark. He had five points in a 7-0 run to end the quarter, including a three-pointer from the corner near the buzzer to make it 69-67 Grizzlies entering the fourth.
