Nikki Boertman - AP

2 months ago: Minnesota Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer, left, defends Memphis Grizzlies forward DeMarre Carroll, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Nikki Boertman)

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Tonight the Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves at home in a bit of an ugly game, but a win is a win. The two young, losing teams were tied at half, but a respectable 3rd quarter put the game out of reach for the Timberwolves, who were consistently down by about ten points.

Marc Gasol played his heart out and grabbed some major stats on the game, but Sam Young was the game-changer. When Young was off, he was a ball-dominator who suppressed his teammates efforts. When Young was on, he broke upon the game with his aggressiveness. 

The starters were effective, but played best in the lineup of Marcus Williams, Sam Young, Rudy Gay, DeMarre Carroll, and Marc Gasol. Rudy distributed a little bit tonight, getting 6 assists, albeit at the cost of 4 turnovers. O.J. Mayo played fine but did nothing memorable. Zach Randolph was in Isiah Thomas-mode tonight, starting out 0-7 from the field.

Rockness Monster: Gasol was 8-8 from the floor, the Grizzlies were +19 while he was on the court, he had 16 rebounds, and played great defense. Yes, he fouled out, but all that tells me is that he played hard on defense. And he dropped a three-pointer in the downtime after a foul call. Did I hear him shout, "Good."? Maybe.

Bitter Limon: Zach Randolph did very little playing against a frontcourt rotation of Ryan Hollins, Nathan Jawai, Oleksiy Pecherov, and Brian Cardinal, as in the Brian Cardinal of "The Brian Cardinal Contract" fame. He looked out of sync and was settling for the Zach Randolph turnaround way too often.

U-Turn: After a few really ugly outings games DeMarre and Sam Young finally put up a nice game. DeMarre still settles for jumpers too often, which should almost never happen, and Sam Young still thinks he's a star scorer. But tonight Carroll killed everyone on defense to make up for his shot selection, and Sam Young impacted the course of the game like a true blue sixth man.

Sleeping With the Enemy: Corey Brewer is starting to come into his own, which is a nice story after all he's been through. Dude moves like a snake and is a joy to watch, but he's got to control himself at times. After starting 6-7 by taking all the right shots, namely finishing and wide, wide open jumpers, he finished 7-19 and wasted too many Wolves possessions. Flynn didn't impress me; Gomes looked just acceptable, despite finishing with a nice line. Otherwise a completely uninteresting team without Love and Jefferson.