MINNEAPOLIS _ If the Timberwolves did such things as give away game balls for victories, they probably should have done so in triplicate after Tuesday's 116-80 victory over Memphis in their home opener at Target Center.
One for young star Zach LaVine, who made 11 of 18 shots from the field _ including five 3-pointers _ and scored 31 points in 29 minutes before he sat out the fourth quarter in a game that had grown lopsided by then.
One for rookie point guard Kris Dunn, who replaced injured Ricky Rubio and made his first NBA start a productive and memorable one with a 10-point, five-steal, six-assist, four-rebound game in 29 minutes of the Wolves' first victory after they started the season with consecutive road losses.
And one for Memphis coach Dave Fizdale, or maybe it was the Grizzlies' new medical staff.
Whoever ultimately made the decision, Fizdale scratched stars Marc Gasol and Mike Conley from the lineup in the final hour before opening tip, choosing to rest two of the three veterans who beat the Wolves in Memphis last week.
He did so in just the season's fourth game and on the first night of a stretch where his team will play three games in four nights, including Wednesday at home against New Orleans.
Fizdale used the word "maintenance" rather than imposed playing-time restrictions when he said before the game that some of his veterans would be available but might not play.
You could call the absence of Gasol and Conley "maintenance."
Or in a game that counts for real, you could also call it "forfeit."
Without two of their stars, the Grizzlies trailed by 13 points after one quarter and by as many as 40 points in the second half on a night when they never rallied, not like they did in making a blowout a close loss in a preseason game at Target Center two weeks earlier or in last week's comeback victory at FedEx Forum.
Dunn started his first NBA game three nights after Rubio sprained his right elbow late in Saturday's loss at Sacramento.
A team doctor examined Rubio on Monday evening and confirmed that he indeed had sprained that elbow. The Wolves call him out "indefinitely," an absence for which new Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau called upon Dunn on Tuesday.
Six days earlier, the Wolves ran off to a 20-3 lead in the season opener at Memphis, but the Grizzlies recovered and prevailed 102-98.
They did so by shooting their way back into the game with a three-point barrage and with the team's veteran triumvirate _ Gasol, Conley and Zach Randolph _ powering their right through and past the young Wolves.
This time, there was no meaningful Memphis comeback, even if veteran guard Tony Allen came off the bench and made his season debut after missing three games because of a knee injury.
The Wolves led 29-16 by first quarter's end and 58-30, 60-32 and 62-34 by late in the second quarter before they took a 26-point lead into halftime.
They stretched that lead to as many as 40 points in the third quarter before
LaVine made seven of 11 shots from the field _ including three made three-pointers _ and scored 20 of his points by halftime on the same night Dieng made his first eight shots from the field just one day after he signed that rich extension.
Dieng finally missed very early in the fourth.
Tuesday's game was the third time in team history the Wolves started four players age 22 or younger.
They did it on consecutive nights in December 2007 when Corey Brewer, Al Jefferson, Chris Richard and Sebastian Telfair started games.
They did it again Tuesday when Dunn moved into the starting lineup for Rubio alongside LaVine, Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.
