MEMPHIS, Tenn. _ Monday evening the Timberwolves played a Memphis Grizzlies team that was on its second coach of the season, was without two of its top three players and was on an 11-game losing streak.
Perhaps you can guess where this is going.
The Wolves lost.
This time Jimmy Butler tried, but didn't have enough to win the game on his own. And the rest of the Wolves? Too many misses and too few stops.
As a result, the Grizzlies got their first win in 12 games, interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff got his first win in Memphis and the Wolves ended the second half of back-to-back games with a 95-92 loss.
Butler scored 30 points _ his second straight game with 30 or more. And he had nine of those in the fourth. But his turnover late sealed the Wolves loss. And his off-balance three as time expired was a bad result coming out of a time out and had no chance from the moment it left his hands.
The Grizzlies were led by Marc Gasol's 21 points. JaMychal Green had 14 and Tyreke Evans had 16.
Taj Gibson had 14 points for the Wolves, Andrew Wiggins and Jeff Teague 12 each. Gorgui Dieng scored 10 off the bench.
Down 84-79 after Green hit a jumper with 9:04 left, Butler kind of took over.
He scored, was fouled and made the free throw. Tyus Jones stole the ball and scored. Then Butler went end-to-end for a basket with 6:47 left that put the Wolves up 86-84.
Didn't last. A 5-0 Memphis run _ with Gasol hitting three free throws _ put Memphis back up three.
With 1:37 left Butler hit two free throws to pull the Wolves within a point.
The teams traded misses.
And then, out of a time out with 39.4 seconds left?
No.
Butler got the ball, with Green covering him. He dribbled the shot clock down, dribbled into triple coverage, tried to pass the ball and turned it over. Evans hit two free throws with 12.7 seconds left. With one final chance out of a time out, the Wolves were only able to get Butler's off-balance 3-pointer.
Butler picked up where he left off Sunday, when he scored 20 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter of the Wolves' win over the Clippers.
Monday? After the Grizzlies had scored the first six points of the game, Butler scored the game's next seven points to give the Wolves a lead. His 3-pointer with 2:40 left in the first quarter gave him 12 points _ or 32 in his last two quarters _ and the Wolves a three-point lead.
Unfortunately, that's when Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau gave Butler and some other Wolves starters a rest. The result: a 10-2 Memphis run fueled by two Wolves turnovers. Andrew Wiggin's basket as the quarter ended cut the Grizzlies' lead to 29-26 entering the second. Memphis shot 12-for-20 (60 percent) in the quarter.
The Wolves spent much of the second quarter struggling to get stops on the defensive end, which made it hard for them to make up any ground on Memphis.
Down 46-40, the Wolves had a quick 10-3 spurt. With both Towns and Gibson scoring four points in that run, Minnesota grabbed a brief 51-50 lead on Butler's free throw with 2:01 left in the half.
But again the Grizzlies finished the quarter strong, this time with a 7-3 run to take a 56-53 lead as the half ended.
Down 68-61 in the third, the Wolves went on an 8-0 run that included four free throws by Gibson, the last two coming with 4:05 left, forcing a Grizzlies timeout.
But, like they did in the first two quarters, the Grizzlies ended the third quarter with a flourish. Down 75-70 after Gibson scored, Memphis ended the third on a 6-0 run to take a 76-75 lead into the fourth.
