The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Memphis Grizzlies last night, 114-108.

The Wolves quickly jumped out to a double-digit lead by scoring 42 points in the opening frame, tying their season-high for any quarter.

The Wolves had held a substantial lead over depleted Memphis club playing without key cogs in Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Mike Conley — among others — and entered the locker room at halftime ahead by nine, 64-55. “We started too slow,” Memphis coach Dave Joerger told the Associated Press, “and spotted them too many points.”

The Grizzlies injury situation is just ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/ArSmTXqF62

— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) March 16, 2016

In what was his 10th consecutive start dating back to Feb. 27, LaVine, despite being matched up primarily against Tony Allen (aka First-Team All-Defense), knocked down a career high six 3-pointers en route to 28 points. “When you let a guy get caught on early like that, that’s a cardinal sin,” Allen said after the game.

Over the previous 10 games LaVine posted per game averages of 38 minutes, 19.6 points, 2.4 assists and 3 rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the field and 43.4 percent from 3-point range.

Memphis had seven different players finish with double-digit point totals; Allen (10), Lance Stephenson (24), JaMychal Green (18), Matt Barnes (14), Ryan Hollins (12), Briante Weber (12) and Jarell Martin (12). Stephenson recorded a plus-minus of positive-14 during the second half that had helped Memphis outscore the Wolves 53-50 throughout the final two quarters. And though the effort was valiant, it came up just short.

One could certainly say the Wolves escaped with a victory. But as they say, a win’s a win.

Zach Bennett

Zachary Bennett covers all types of basketball, though most of his work focuses on the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. He is a contributor to the Hardwood Paroxysm Basketball Network, and has written at SB Nation’s Canis Hoopus. Find him on Twitter: @ZacharyBD.

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