The J-Notes
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Utah Jazz vs. Minnesota Timberwolves: Keeping the dream alive

By Tyler Crandall

PORTLAND, OR - JANUARY 24: Tom Thibodeau talks to Nemanja Bjelica #8 and Andrew Wiggins #22 of the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 24, 2018 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - JANUARY 24: Tom Thibodeau talks to Nemanja Bjelica #8 and Andrew Wiggins #22 of the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 24, 2018 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Utah Jazz host the Minnesota Timberwolves in a matchup that will prove important to both teams’ playoff standings.

While at first the matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves appears daunting as the Wolves are the current third seed in the West, it should be noted that they recently lost Jimmy Butler, who was having an MVP caliber season, to a knee injury.

They may also have had some more bad injury luck with Taj Gibson hurting his hip while losing to Damian Lillard and the Portland Trailblazers. To make matters worse for the Wolves, they just played Portland last night and have little time to recover before playing in Salt Lake City.

The bad news for Minnesota turns into good news for the Utah Jazz, who still have an opportunity to even the season series by winning this matchup and the next.

Here’s how the Jazz fared in the averaged stats from their first two games (both losses).

Team Opponent
Team Splits Table
Split Value G W L FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA ORB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA ORB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Minnesota 2 0 2 37.0 80.5 11.5 31.0 12.0 14.0 7.5 34.5 23.0 9.0 6.0 17.0 22.0 97.5 36.5 76.0 8.5 21.0 23.0 27.5 7.5 42.0 19.5 10.0 3.5 15.0 15.0 104.5

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/2/2018.

The most striking detail is turnovers. You absolutely will not win a lot of games averaging 17 giveaways per contest. Unfortunately, this has been

the

a narrative for the Jazz all season, including the loss against the Houston Rockets on Monday.

With that said, turnovers will kick off the first key to the game.

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