This early in the NBA season, its hard for teams to get familiar with each other. The Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies are the exception.The two teams play in Memphis for the second time this season on Saturday night. It will be third regular-season meeting after Minnesota and Memphis also met in the preseason. The two teams have split the first two regular-season games, each winning on its home court.The Grizzlies (7-5) will be happy to head home after finishing a four-game road trip in Dallas on Friday night. Memphis finished the road trip with three straight wins after beating the Mavericks 80-64.I was happy to see our defense, Grizzlies coach David Fizdale said. I always tell the guys our defense will travel. Your offense dont always get on the plane with you. But our defense was really stingy tonight.Parsons return to Dallas was one of Fridays storylines. The familiarity between teams played a part in the first half, in which neither team scored more than 19 points in the first two quarters.We stopped being friendly, Fizdale said. If you watched the first quarter, everybody was having conversations with the other team like they were all pals. And we dont have the luxury to be buddies.I think we took it light, like thinking they didnt have their players, but this (Mavericks) is an NBA team with NBA players. We didnt show them respect by playing like that. So I got after them pretty good and they came out in the second half and got after it.Familiarity with Minnesota could breed contempt.The Timberwolves (4-7) opened the season at Memphis and led by as many as 17 early before losing 102-98 as the Grizzlies charged back. Minnesota won the second game handily 116-80 at home as Memphis rested point guard Mike Conley and center Marc Gasol.Fizdale didnt play any of his starters more than 32 minutes on Friday with the back-to-back scheduled against the Timberwolves.Memphis also got guard Tony Allen back after he missed four games with a strained right groin. Allen scored 11 points off the bench in Fridays win.Well have to wait and see how I feel tomorrow, Allen said. I thought I did a good job of icing and stretching. Ill get some rest tonight and see how I feel tomorrow.Minnesota has won three of its past five games, including Thursdays 110-86 dismantling of Philadelphia in which three players posted double-doubles. Andrew Wiggins scored 35 points and tied a career high with 10 rebounds. Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Gorgui Dieng added 12 points and 10 rebounds.I think we character this game as a point in the road that we have to look back and we have to understand and grow from this, Towns said. We held them to, I think, 33 points in the first half. Thats very good for us to do. Weve got to do a better job from here on out, especially in the third quarter.The Timberwolves started Friday as the sixth-highest scoring team in the league. They were also the highest-scoring team in the first quarter. But theyve been the worst in the third quarter, blowing several leads along the way.Wiggins has been the biggest factor in Minnesotas offensive surge. He has scored more than 30 points in three of his past six games. During that stretch, Wiggins has scored 33 points, grabbed 5.3 rebounds and passed out 3.5 assists per game. He shot 50.7 percent from the field while taking 22.67 shots per game.There were times last year where I just drifted to the corner and stayed there, Wiggins said. I think Im just being more active. My awareness is higher. Im just doing more. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. Discount Jerseys . Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey last Sunday. The fine is the fourth this season for Goldson. He was fined $30,000 for a hit on the New York Jets Jeff Cumberland in Week 1. http://www.cheapjerseysfromchina.info/ . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys China .Y. -- Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has a bone to pick with the NFL schedule maker. Stitched Jerseys .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Rick Pitino praised the NCAA for its professional approach in the governing bodys investigation of a sex scandal involving Louisville mens basketball and the coach pledged his program will be accountable for things that went wrong on his watch.Pitino spoke Wednesday at the Atlantic Coast Conference mens basketball media gathering, a week after the NCAA said Louisville committed four serious violations and criticized Pitino for failing to monitor a former Cardinals basketball staffer who hired escorts and strippers for sex parties with recruits and players.Pitino skipped media day last year on advice of counsel as the sex scandal broke. Though the case may not be completely resolved for several months, on Wednesday, a smiling, hopeful Pitino was ready to move the conversation back to basketball and his teams chances to compete for a league title.Were disappointed in what happened. Nobodys more disappointed than me of what happened and where it happened, he said. I keep saying over and over, Ill never understand why it happened. Thats the most difficult thing when I go to bed at night.Pitino said the NCAAs investigation was very thorough and said the governing body acted in a very professional manner.Weve got to be accountable and we will, Pitino continued.The NCAAs report last week didnt mention a lack of institutional control -- considered the most serious violation in some cases -- which Pitino said means his program is doing some things right.The sordid Louisville mess had some questioning if the 64-year-old Pitino, who has led the Cardinals and Kentucky to national championships, should keep his job.His players never doubted their coachs leadership.Hes such a Hall of Famer, such a first-class guy on and off the court, Louisville guard Donovan Mitchell said.Pitino said the penalties Louisville imposed on its programs were significant. The team, which went 23-8 and finished fourth in the ACC, was kept out of both the league and NCAA tournaments. The school also reduced its scholarships by two, one each for the 20177-18 and 2018-19 seasons; limited the basketball staffs days on the road recruiting and cut official visits by prospects by two -- in all a 24 percent reduction in recruiting opportunities, according to the school.ddddddddddddMitchell acknowledged how much it hurt to miss the postseason. He recalled last March watching friends take part in NCAA Tournament games and knowing the Cardinals deserved to be there, too.I was in the gym listening to Notre Dame play whoever, watching my friends play on TV and sometimes Id sit there with my mom and think, `Thats just crazy, he said.Mitchell insisted the bad times are done.Were past it and were using it as motivation to get to where we need to get to this year and were really focused on being a really good basketball team, he said.Things, though, are not over for Louisville or Pitino.The school has 90 days from the NCAAs Oct. 17 letter to respond and process might last until spring. Pitino could also face additional NCAA penalties similar to the nine-game suspension Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim received this past season as part of his programs punishment.Pitinos not worried about that now. He said hes rarely enjoyed coaching a group as much as this one in part because of their resiliency in the face of the NCAA investigations and the outside noise about the program.And it sounds like the 64-year-old Pitino plans to stick around for a while. He said hes assured prospects families that they wont ever have to worry about such problems again. This will be my strongest recruiting class yet, he said.Pitino also does not fret what the NCAAs accusations might do to his Hall-of-Fame legacy. I think when you start thinking about your legacy, its time to get out of the game, he said. Your ego is out of whack. 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