[Cinco de Mayo]

Friday, November 28th, 2003 -- The Pyramid -- 8:00EST

<center> vs.
(6-7) | (8-7)

vs.
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Memphis
Fans of "old school" Grizzlies basketball must have been thrilled after an abysmal rout at the hands of the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. Memphis has been an up-and-down team this year and seek to avoid the second three-game losing streak of the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home tonight at the Pyramid. Pau Gasol leads all Grizzlies with 16.4 ppg and must do battle with Kevin Garnett, who is having yet another MVP caliber season. James Posey, who will inevitably have ankle surgery later in the season, has been struggling in his past few games, obviously displaying the ill effects of bone spurs.

Minnesota
As surprising as the Grizzlies have been this year, the Wolves have been equally disappointing. The offseason acquisitions of Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell, and Michael Olowokandi have yielded a meager 8-7 record. Olowokandi and swingman Wally Szczerbiak are sidelined with injuries, which has forced Minnesota's bench players (or lack thereof) to play heavy minutes as of late. Minnesota is coming off a home loss to the Knicks, a game in which Sprewell was held to just five points after going scoreless against the Indiana Pacers. The T-Wolves have beaten Memphis in nine straight meetings.

Closing
Memphis needs to rebound after two frustrating losses, and luckily, we are back home for that chance. Minnesota's bench is one of the worst in the league, and although ours has had major trouble putting the ball in the hole lately, we should contain them with our depth. Containing KG is another story altogether. Hopefully, the calls will go our way tonight after some recent terrible officiating, in which Posey fouled out in nine minutes against the Lakers and Jake Tsakalidis "earned" five personals in eight minutes against the Kings. Despite our near .500 record and stellar play, we're statistically one of the bottom teams in the West, which just goes to show how much of a war this conference is going to be this year.

[UKfan4Life]

Someone please tell me Pau won't be guarding KG.

[talula]

Originally posted by <b>UKfan4Life</b>!
Someone please tell me Pau won't be guarding KG.

I'm sure he will, and Garnett always dominates him. Apparently, KG hasn't forgot that nasty baseline dunk Gasol had on him. Pau should have known better than to celebrate afterwards.

Bad Pau, very bad.

[talula]

Half
Minnesota 51
Memphis 44


T'Wolves
Garnett 12 points
Garnett 9 rebounds
Garnett 5 assists


Grizzlies
Gasol 10 points
Gasol, Posey, Tsakalidis each with 4 rebounds
Williams 6 assists

[talula]

Final
Minnesota 102
Memphis 98


T'Wolves
Cassell 25 points
Garnett 18 rebounds
Garnett 7 assists


Grizzlies
Williams 24
Gasol 12 rebounds
Williams 11 assists

Box Score

[Cinco de Mayo]

This is a little late, of course, but I went to this game, and the score makes the game sound closer than it was.

We basically spent the entire game down by eight points or more. Then, we would come back to make it a two-point deficit. And Sam Cassell would hit a big shot, and the T-Wolves would go on a run. Garnett was unstoppable -- he just shot over everyone. Pure. It was the first time I've ever seen him live.

We made an impressive comeback, but this Wolves team was struggling, and we couldn't make the defensive stops we needed.

Of course, we've improved our "comeback game" against the Cavs, apparently.