For the second time in this series on Tuesday, D'Angelo Russell and the Minnesota Timberwolves saw victory snapped from their jaws following a blown 13-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The National Basketball Association's 2021-2022 Most Improved Player Ja Morant hit the game-winning layup with one second left over the outstretched body of Jarred Vanderbilt to catapult the Grizzlies to a commanding 3-2 series lead – a lead that historically the team ahead goes on and wins over 80% of the time.
From inside the arena in Memphis… Ja calls GAME!pic.twitter.com/K6ioc0Os5U
— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2022
While this series up to this point has been somewhat of a coming-out party for second-year Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, it has also been a very up-and-down series for the guy the Timberwolves traded Andrew Wiggins for in Russell.
In a lot of ways, Russell's struggles to give consistent back-to-back performances on the offensive end of the floor have been Russell's calling card for his entire career.
Russell finished game five with 12 points, eight assists, and four turnovers on just 4/10 shooting from the field. Credit to the Grizzlies' defense for finding a way to prevent Russell from getting going, but the Timberwolves do not have enough high-quality offensive players for Russell to only be shooting ten field goal attempts in a playoff game.
Through six games this series, Russell is averaging 13 points and seven assists per game on shooting splits of 27/39/75 from the floor – far below the lofty expectations that Minnesota fans have for the second overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft.
Per Cleaning The Glass, Russell also ranks in the 40th percentile this postseason in points per 100 shot attempts (101.1).
Part of Russell's struggles could be tied to his low usage % in the playoffs.
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch is using Russell this postseason in just the 40th percentile of usage % amongst all NBA players. For comparison, Russell's usage % in the regular season this year ranked him in the 74th percentile of all players, and Russell's usage % saw him Russell ranked in the 91st percentile for all players during the 2021/2022 season.
Even with the lower usage, the Timberwolves will need Russell to step up in a big way for them to force a game seven back in Memphis this weekend.
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