The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-103 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday, to secure their fifth win in the past six games.

The two teams played against each other in the Western Conference first-round playoffs last season. Though the Grizzlies won the series 4-2 in the end, the Timberwolves caused a lot of trouble for them. Having traded to acquire three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert during the offseason, the Timberwolves were expected to have a closer contest with the Grizzlies.

However, that was not the case on Friday night. Though the Grizzlies lacked their best big man Jaren Jackson Jr. due to injury, Ja Morant and Desmond Bane kept exploiting Gobert's shortcoming of not being able to close out when he was guarding screen plays to shoot jumpers and floaters in the middle range.

In the second half, they even began to use Gobert's hesitation to play mind games with the French giant: If Gobert closed out, Morant and Bane would either use their speed to beat him and charge the rim, or pass to the teammates who cut in along the baseline for easy layups; if Gobert remained next to the hoop, the Grizzlies back-court pair continued to punish him by firing in the middle range.

That's why though the Grizzlies shot as poorly as 7-for-33 from downtown, they still managed to score 72 points in the first half. Moreover, since Gobert often had to be distracted by the opponents' raids from outside, the Timberwolves allowed 15 offensive rebounds by the opponents, who turned them into 32 second-chance points. By contrast, the Timberwolves only had seven offensive rebounds and nine second-chance points.

As the Timberwolves couldn't stop the Grizzlies from scoring efficiently, they had to count on their own offense as the best chance to win Friday's game. Nonetheless, Karl-Anthony Towns, the Timberwolves' best attacking weapon, failed to even play consistently on the court against the Grizzlies.

Though Gobert was the Grizzlies major target on offense, the team didn't let Towns off. Towns' poor decision-playing ability in guarding screen plays made him panic in most defensive possessions. As a result, he was often held back by foul trouble, playing no more than 26 minutes on Friday night.

Even when Towns was on the court, he had to face poor spacing, which then enabled the Grizzlies to close in around the paint. As a result, he only shot nine field goals (FGs), four of which at the 3-point line. Towns had a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds plus four assists before he was fouled out at 3:09 in the fourth quarter.

Despite the win, the Grizzlies were not immune to foul trouble as both Morant and Steven Adams were called their fourth personal foul in the third quarter and had to sit on the bench, which was not part of coach Taylor Jenkins' plan. However, with or without Morant on the court, the Grizzlies stuck to and executed their original plan of charging the paint to draw attention before kicking for open shots. Whether Adams was there or not, the team spared no efforts competing for every offensive rebound. The Grizzlies know where their advantage is – power, athleticism and energy – and how to exploit it in the best way.

By contrast, the Timberwolves are still far from reorganizing their roster into a competitive franchise. Gobert has to play a long time for defensive sake while continuously hurting the team's spacing; D'Angelo Russell is not doing much positive offensive work in his current shooting form; Anthony Edwards has been playing outside the system, if there is any system; Towns is still struggling in the "Towns dilemma": He is the Timberwolves' best offensive player, but has to stretch the spacing for teammates instead of playing as the attacking core of the team.

Other games on Friday (away teams come first):

Denver Nuggets 112-131 Boston Celtics

The Celtics didn't stop Nikola Jokic from going 12-for-20 in FGs to drop 29 points, eight rebounds and three assists at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, on Friday night, but they tore through the Nuggets' defense like a hot knife through butter. The team shot at 55.6 percent of FG rate to score over 30 points in all four quarters. None of the 11 players they sent to the court was negative in plus/minus.

Jayson Tatum seemed to have upgraded again on the offensive front. He didn't have the best touch for jumpers in Friday's game, but went 6-for-8 under the rim and led the Celtics in fast break points (eight). Jaylen Brown became the dominant shooter as he made nine of his 12 jumpers, including three from deep.

Cleveland Cavaliers 101-106 Golden State Warriors

The Warriors secured their second straight win despite a series of unreasonable and unfavorable referee calls at home. Having shot 15-for-23 from the field and 6-for-11 from downtown, Stephen Curry scored 40+points in the second game in a row, but this time, he didn't have to launch as many isolations as he did in the last game against the Sacramento Kings.

For starters, the Warriors finally got the ball moving again, which could be reflected in Draymond Green's 13 assists. Secondly, Jordan Poole finally played like the bench leader the team wanted him to be. He and Anthony Lamb combined to get 28 points, outscoring their Cavaliers counterparts by 15 points.

Sacramento Kings 120-114 Los Angeles Lakers

It's time to reevaluate the scoring ability of De'Aaron Fox. His penetration via speed is still a sharp weapon as he went 9-for-11 from the field in the paint to score 18 points. His 3-point shooting also improved for him to shoot 2-for-5 from deep. Nonetheless, the six points he scored during the clutch time (the five minutes in the final quarter when the score difference is smaller than five points) against the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena came from two jumpers and one floater, all over the 2.27-meter-long wingspan of 2.08-meter-tall Anthony Davis.

LeBron James sat out Friday's game due to leg and groin injuries, but coach Darwin Ham still had Russell Westbrook begin off the bench. Westbrook had a double-double of 21 points and 11 assists, which made half of the team's assists. He also shot (4-for-7) better than any other teammates at the 3-point line. However, the Kings still didn't hesitate at all before closing in for defensive sake in the final two minutes.

The Lakers missed all of their five jumpers in those two minutes.

Phoenix Suns 97-114 Orlando Magic

Detroit Pistons 112-121 New York Knicks

Toronto Raptors 113-132 Oklahoma City Thunder

Milwaukee Bucks 93-111 San Antonio Spurs