Utah Jazz vs. Minnesota Timberwolves: Keys to the Game

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Jan 7, 2017; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins (22) is fouled by Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) during the fourth quarter at Target Center. The Jazz defeated the Timberwolves 94-92. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

Key Stat – Rebounds

In the most recent contest between these two Northwest Division foes, one of the main reasons why the Timberwolves led for most of the game and, quite honestly should have arose victorious, was because they absolutely bullied the Jazz on the boards, outrebounding them by a margin of 58-44.

That outcome was particularly surprising given that the Jazz actually rank 20th in the league in rebounds per game at 43.0 while the Wolves rank below them at 22nd with 42.9 per contest. Sure, that’s an incredibly narrow margin, but still the fact that Minnesota ranks below the Jazz yet logged 14 more rebounds than them is astounding.

https://twitter.com/NBA_FormulaOne/status/818316392093122561

However, these two teams do find themselves right next to each other and near the top of the league in rebounding differential, as Utah is a +3.0 on the year while Minnesota is +2.5, good for fourth and sixth in the NBA, respectively.

Therefore, that latter stat is quite indicative that the Wolves are indeed a good rebounding team and the Jazz will need to look to take that strength away from them as best as possible. If Utah is able to control the boards and in turn control the game’s tempo, it will likely put them in a great spot to overwhelm the visiting Timberwolves.

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