The Memphis Grizzlies are up 3-2 in their playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, one win from advancing to the second round where they would face the Golden State Warriors.
The expectation is that it’ll happen Friday in Game 6, where the Grizzlies are favored by 1.5 points on the road. But whether it’s Game 6 or Game 7, Memphis is heavily favored to move on at -699 odds to win the series on Tipico Sportsbook. But if you ask Warriors forward Draymond Green, the series should have been over in five games — and the Timberwolves, not the Grizzlies, are the team that should have advanced already. And he’s absolutely right.
After splitting the first two games, Minnesota lost two of the next three after holding double-digit leads in the fourth quarter of each. They led by as much as 26 in Game 3 and were up 11 going into the fourth quarter of Game 5. Green thinks Karl-Anthony Towns — and Minnesota’s use of him — is part of the problem.
"At some point you probably should just be yourself"@Money23Green weighs in on KAT the trash talker pic.twitter.com/6BS3yDQmRu
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) April 29, 2022
The first layer to this is Towns’ trash-talking, which does seem to backfire on him a lot. According to Green, that’s not really who Towns has been in his career.
“At some point you probably should just be yourself, because it hasn’t been going right for him when he does that,” Green said. “I’ve never known Karl Towns to be such a big talker.”
The second part is how the Wolves have or haven’t used Towns, often giving the 7-footer isolation possessions outside of the paint despite his size advantage on smaller defenders.
“I was very shocked down the stretch that [Memphis] put Dillon Brooks on him, and he caught the ball outside of the free throw line every time,” Green said. “He has Dillon Brooks on him. He made his name scoring in the post, not shooting threes.”
It’s a valid point and something the Timberwolves should probably consider going into Game 6. Otherwise, they’ll be going home sooner than later.