Even with a lack of focus and a less-than-stellar performance, the Memphis Grizzlies were still able to send the Minnesota Timberwolves to their 10th straight loss. Zach Randolph scored 22 points and O.J. Mayo added 20 in the Grizzlies’ 106-89 victory Saturday night.
Memphis won its fourth straight and seventh in eight games to move a half-game ahead of the New Orleans Hornets for seventh place in the Western Conference.But the effort was less than polished. At times, Memphis played to the level of its competition, struggling against the short-handed Timberwolves, playing without leading scorer and rebounder Kevin Love, who didn’t make the trip because of the groin injury that has bothered him the last 10 days.
Tony Allen added 12 points for Memphis, Leon Powe finished with 11 and Marc Gasol had 10 points and nine rebounds. Memphis outrebounded the Timberwolves 44-34.
Michael Beasley led Minnesota with 20 points, Luke Ridnour had 17, and Nikola Pekovic 14.
Minnesota committed 26 turnovers, 17 of them coming on Memphis steals. The miscues led to 33 Memphis points.
“We played really hard and gave a good effort considering how short-handed we were,” said Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis, whose team also was without starting center Darko Milicic. “When you give up 33 points off turnovers, it’s too big of a hole to dig yourself out of. You have to do something extraordinary, if you’re going to give up that many points.”
Memphis, which leads the NBA in points in the paint, took advantage of the absences on the Minnesota frontline, outscoring the Timberwolves 56-36 in that category.
“I was just playing, honestly,” said Beasley, who had five rebounds. “We were down two starters. That’s about 20 rebounds. I tried to do what I had to do and tried to give our team a chance.”
After struggling beyond the arc in the first half, missing 10 of 11 shots from long range, the Timberwolves were able to cut into Memphis’ lead in the second half, going 5 of 8 on 3-pointers.
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