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Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Memphis Grizzlies, final score 101-97: Gasol spearheads late push for Memphis

The Grizzlies start slow, but Marc Gasol scores 27 and Mike Conley hits a big three late to lead the team to victory 101-97.

By The Matty B
Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

So the Grizzlies played uglier than that shiner Nikola Pekovich's eye and that divot in Russell Westbrook's head.  But they survived for the 101-97 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Here is what we learned:

1) The Grizzlies starters started badly....

It started rough...

The starters (Conley, Lee, Green, ZBo, and Gasol) had twenty-eight points in the first half on 10-22 shooting with eleven turnovers.  They started slow, but pulled together for a strong late second half.  Marc Gasol ended with twenty-seven points and eleven rebounds.  Zach Randolph struggled again, matching his low point total from Friday night against the Clippers (7), but made some big, big shots late in the 4th quarter.  Mike Conley, Captain Clutch himself, made a huge three with less than a minute left to go to give the Grizzlies the lead for good.

2) The Bench Mob picked it up nicely

Beno Udrih gave his father "the talk"

Tony Allen's mom has a tattoo that says "Son"

If Kosta Koufus pats you on the back, you can put that on your resume

Nick Calathes' least favorite subject in school was recess...cause he don't play

Jon Leuer's personality is so magnetic that he can not carry credit cards

Tony Allen's tears could cure cancer...too bad he never cries.

The Holy Grail is looking for Nick Calathes

Twitter had its account verified by Jon Leuer

Beno Udrih goes to the dollar store with 50 cents and always gets change

Kosta Koufus won the World Series of Poker using only a deck of Uno cards

Where the starters sagged, the bench picked it up.  The Bench Mob (insert nickname here) went 11-14 from the field and scored 22 points in the first half, all while causing the same amount of chaos on defense as usual.

Comment below your idea for the nickname for the bench corps...I like TA and the Vanilla Wafers, but I know you guys out there can do better.

3) KG IS ALIVE

So getting traded to Minnesota can resurrect a corpse.  Just ask Kevin Garnett, who was dead three weeks ago when the Nets came to Memphis.  He had six points and three rebounds in fifteen minutes.  But it looked like he was having fun out there, playing hard and giving it whatever he has left.  Until he got ejected...for bouncing a ball too high.

Yeah...seemed weird to me too.

Anyway, after his ejection, the Timberwolves went on a 30-10 run that lasted until the end of the fourth quarter.  After the game, the Minnesota play-by-play guys opined that if the team had had Garnett for the remaining nineteen minutes of the game maybe it would have turned out different.  I disagree.  I think either the ejection sparked a rally for their wronged comrade, or KG threatened to kill and dismember all of his teammates' moms, significant others, and/or childhood pets.  One or the other.

Other observations

-NBA Players who have scored the most career points against the Grizzlies (probably)

1) Jamaal Crawford - 10,298 points

2) Kevin Martin - 10, 276 points

3) Tie Moe Williams and Lou Williams - 8,978 points

THEN WHY OH WHY IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY WAS KEVIN MARTIN WIDE OPEN IN THE CORNER WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE???? DID JEFF GREEN AT LEAST CLAP HIS HAND OR SHOUT AT HIM MENACINGLY AS HE BIT ON THE PUMP FAKE???? AND WHY WASN'T TONY ALLEN IN THE POCKET OF HIS SHORTS THE ENTIRE TIME TO STOP THAT RIDICULOUS SHOOTING MOTION...TO QUOTE MYSELF:

RANT OVER

-Andrew Wiggins is really good at basketball.  I know...big shock.  He's got a skillful finesse to his game.  Now he should go home and watch Kevin Garnett play basketball with some grit and crazy and he will be an elite player.  Not bad for a good Canadian boy 'der.

-For the second straight night the Grizzlies came out flat and terrible.  The starters were flat, and the team nearly gave the game away after KG got ejected.  This lack of motivation points to a couple of possibilities.  One is a tough schedule.  Five games in seven nights, with four on the road, sucks.  The second could be a problem in the locker room.  I have nothing to go on here other than watching how the team plays, so this is a wild speculation.  But I really do hope that this is not a problem going forward that derails the team entirely.

Or maybe it's just the dramatic part of the championship DVD *cue dramatic music*

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