The Memphis Grizzlies came into the 2022 NBA Playoffs riding high as the No. 2 seed. The Grizzlies won 56 games in the regular season despite superstar Ja Morant playing just 57 games, with their deep roster standing tall when Morant was sidelined. There was plenty of excitement heading into Saturday's Game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, only for that to be quickly extinguished thanks to a 130-117 defeat to lose home-court advantage.
When there's such a surprising outcome in a game, people are always quick to point fingers and assign blame. Before looking at what went wrong, the Timberwolves deserve a ton of credit for playing an incredible game. Anthony Edwards exploded in his first-ever playoff game with 36 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns went for 29 points and 13 rebounds. Minnesota shot 50.0% from the field and 16-of-41 from 3-point range.
Perhaps rust played a factor for the Grizzlies, who didn't play for a week while the Timberwolves participated in a tough play-in game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Either way, there are a few Grizzlies who really struggled in Game 1 and need to step up.
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Grizzlies to blame for Game 1 loss to Timberwolves
Adams was such an important part of the Grizzlies all season, but he laid a total egg in Game 1. While never much of a scorer, Adams didn't score a single point and didn't take a single shot or free throw in his 24 minutes. He also only had three rebounds and committed four fouls as Memphis got outscored by 13 points in those 24 minutes. The veteran big man had zero answer for KAT.
The Grizzlies were much more effective when Brandon Clarke was on the court. Clarke had 13 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals in 27 minutes. He shot 6-of-7 from the field and grabbed four offensive rebounds. Memphis outscored Minnesota by two points.
The Grizzlies need Adams to be more effective moving forward in this series, or he needs to play less.
De'Anthony Melton
Melton was a big reason why Memphis was so successful without Morant this season. While primarily a bench player, he also started 15 games and had an excellent season. The 23-year-old guard averaged a career-high 10.8 points to go along with 4.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals in 22.7 minutes per game. He shot 37.45% from 3 on over five attempts per game.
Unfortunately, Game 1 was a disaster. Melton had just two points on 1-of-4 shooting in 14 minutes. He missed all three of his 3-point attempts and didn't notch many other stats. The Grizzlies were outscored by 14 points in his time on the court, despite most of the other reserves being positives in the box score.
This was a nightmare game for Melton, but look for him to bounce back.
The head coach must take some blame for such a bad Game 1 loss, especially one in which his team gave up 130 points. Again, some of this was the Timberwolves just playing great, but the Grizzlies weren't sharp and had zero answers:
Too regular-season a gameplan from them in general. Jenkins paying tribute to coach Bud in a Game 1
— Mike Prada. (PRAY-duh) (@MikePradaNBA) April 16, 2022
It didn't help that there was some foul trouble, with Jaren Jackson Jr. the most notable example. He was limited to just 24 minutes thanks to his foul trouble, and he should take some of the blame for this loss as well despite his seven blocks. He also shot just 4-of-13 overall and 0-of-5 from 3, so this put Jenkins in a tough spot.
Still, the coach needs to do a better job with the game plan for Game 2 and beyond.
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