The Memphis Grizzlies suffered a close defeat against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night, getting a one-point loss to the 7th seed in the Western Conference that leveled things for both squads.
The Timberwolves did a great job and took the best of the Grizzlies after blowing a 26-point lead in Game 3 at home. The result didn’t please anybody in Memphis and their head coach had some things to say about it.
Even though Taylor Jenkins admitted that his team needed to do better from now on, he went off against referees, blasting them for the poor officiating after his players got in foul trouble early in the game.
Via ESPN:
“We’ve got to play better, but in my opinion, [this was] one of the most poorly officiated games I’ve ever seen in my NBA career,” Jenkins said in his postgame news conference. “All five of our starters borderline fouled out in the first quarter. Ten-plus foul difference, 40 free throws. Yeah, some things we’ve got to clean and get better at, but I’ve never seen a more inconsistent and arrogant officiated game.
“So I’ll take whatever hits are coming my way. I gotta protect our guys. We know we’ve gotta get better, but from the get-go, it was foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, inconsistency. There was actually one play where a foul whistle was blown before contact was even made. It’s embarrassing.”
The Grizzlies landed in the playoffs as one of the best teams in the league. The young squad found a difficult matchup in the Timberwolves, but they are still confident in their chances. However, they need to step up their game for the upcoming matches, as Games 5 are crucial to define the winner of a best-of-7 series.
Ja Morant hasn’t played at his usual level and the Grizzlies need him to do better. Moreover, if the officiating keeps taking the spotlight away from the players, things will look a lot worse for the team. But they know they first need to start playing better to see better results on the court.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYUGTvWVlUI
