The Timberwolves were halfway to yet another strong offensive showing filled with ball movement and pace Wednesday at Target Center.

Then everything came to a screeching halt, as Minnesota played one of its uglier halves of offense of the season. The final 24 minutes of Minnesota’s 116-110 loss to Memphis featured just eight assists, which were matched by eight turnovers.

Minnesota shot 7 for 23 from the field in the third quarter, then 8 for 23 in the fourth.

“I thought it was a horrendous night offensively,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “Our offensive decision making was awful. From shot selection to turnovers to execution, it was just not very good.”

Which was the continuance of an ongoing issue for Minnesota. Memphis played physical defense Wednesday, and also had former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. to guard Julius Randle 1 on 1 in the middle of the floor.

Those two ingredients generally form the recipe for a concoction that ails Minnesota. Randle went just 9 for 21 in the loss with three assists to four turnovers. The forward has been consistently excellent for the Wolves this season, partially due to his simplicity of approach.

If Randle draws help defense, he kicks to an open teammate. If he is left in a 1 on 1 situation, he looks to score. But the latter wasn’t a successful venture against Jackson, yet Randle continued to hit his head against the wall that was the Memphis forward throughout the evening with little success.

Randle noted “next-action basketball,” where Minnesota continues to move the ball and drive the paint and kick and attack closeouts until a great look presents itself,  is a big driver of his success, and that wasn’t prevalent in the Wolves’ offense against Memphis.

“I felt like there wasn’t as much movement on my part, on everybody’s part,” Randle said.

That was part of the reason Minnesota’s offense stagnated, along with the general resistance the Grizzlies provided on all fronts. Memphis is long and physical. Your cuts and drives against it will face friction. Generally, that means everything you do needs to be quicker and more decisive.

“They don’t let you get by them quick, easily,” Finch said. “So to play off the catch, you got to play with thrust and stay with the dribble and play through the initial point of contact. I don’t think we did a very good job of that tonight.”

Instead, Minnesota started to hold. At that point, the Wolves are easy to guard, and only more so when their top isolation player, Anthony Edwards, is out with foot soreness. Shooting variance didn’t bail the Wolves out Wednesday, as Minnesota went just 13 for 44 from distance.

Everything the Wolves did in the second half Wednesday was slow and difficult. Such has been the case against scrappy defenses all season, including matchups against Portland and Oklahoma City, the latter of which Minnesota will play again Friday. The Wolves will need to be prepared to play fast and with intention if they hope to pull the upset of the Thunder.

“I think it takes five guys to be willing to do it, and I think we are when you look at the big picture. But, sometimes, when there’s frustration, we go back old ways individually. I wouldn’t put myself in that category, but some of us are more 1 on 1 scorers, and I think we’ve got to just give ourselves away to the team,” said Rudy Gobert, who finished 16 points and 16 rebounds. “We need the scorers to be aggressive, but within the flow of the game.

“Making quicker decisions. If you’re going to shoot, pass or drive is pretty much what it is. Having less of dribble, dribble, dribble, because the defense sets and it makes everything harder. The NBA in today’s game, the defense is going to shrink. And even for me, as a guy who’s going to rebound or be open, it’s much easier to rebound when we have an advantage. We have a lot of ways to grab advantages that are better than just playing 1 on 1.”

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