The Utah Jazz will look to avenge their embarrassing loss last month to the Minnesota Timberwolves in yet another important contest tonight.
The last time the Minnesota Timberwolves came to town, it wasn’t a pretty sight. The Utah Jazz looked completely uninspired and came out totally flat-footed as they dropped an ugly 107-80 loss to the visiting Wolves. At the time it was Utah’s fifth loss in eight games and certainly a low point for the team.
Just the opposite was true for the Timberwolves. That annihilation of the Jazz came as part of a stretch that saw Minnesota get hot and win five of seven including victories over the Clippers, Warriors and Wizards.
However, since then, while the Jazz have been able to recover gracefully for the most part and hold onto their fourth place spot in the West, the Timberwolves have taken an awful turn in the wrong direction. After defeating Washington on March 13th, Minnesota went on to lose six straight games, essentially dooming their playoff chances as they were knocked out of contention not long after.
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Therefore, given that Minnesota has little to play for and has dropped eight of their last 11 whereas the Jazz are in a tooth and nail battle for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, there’s a very good chance that a motivated Utah squad will be able to come out strong and get the job done.
Nevertheless, the Wolves are young, athletic and, as they proved last time they were in Salt Lake, capable of being seriously dangerous. Therefore, the Jazz will still need to come in prepared and put up an excellent performance if they hope to come away with an important victory.