The Utah Jazz seemingly had a clear path to an easy win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday. In the end, they were reminded that nothing comes easy.
The script for Friday’s bout between the Utah Jazz and the Minnesota Timberwolves practically wrote itself. Coming into town on the wrong end of a back-to-back and going into battle without Derrick Rose, Jeff Teague, Tyus Jones and Robert Covington, the wounded Wolves were sure to get walloped by a well-rested Jazz band.
Yeah, that didn’t happen. They may have gotten the win — hanging on for a 106-102 win at the Viv — but it certainly wasn’t easy. Things got downright ugly over the game’s final 12 minutes.
While Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz looked like world beaters through three quarters, pushing their lead to as many as 23 points, Karl-Anthony Towns and company would claw their way back to within one point after the Jazz clanged 10 of their first 11 shot attempts to open the fourth quarter.
On the other end, the Wolves scored the first 13 points of the period, and they would continue to fire away as the game approached its final buzzer. After an Anthony Tolliver triple at the 1:05 mark, the Jazz entered the final minute clinging to a 103-102 lead.
Minnesota ultimately couldn’t capitalize, however, as Joe Ingles and Mitchell eventually sealed the game at the charity stripe.
For the Wolves, it was an epic squandering of a big-time KAT performance; after being limited to just six minutes and four points during a foul-plagued first half, Towns finished with 33 points on 19 shot attempts.
As for your Utah Jazz, Mitchell ruled the roost once again. He wasn’t quite as sharp from the field as he’s been in recent weeks, scoring 23 points on a woeful 7-of-24 shooting, but his improved playmaking skills hit another new level. The would-be point guard dished out a career-high 11 assists, routinely finding his teammates with pinpoint precision.
His best dime on the night was this rocket-armed baseball pass to Georges Niang for a triple —
here's a little baseball for your NBA game pic.twitter.com/F6jHheIMY2
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 26, 2019
It’s worth noting that he was Utah’s floor general for most of the final period, as Ricky Rubio was limited to just under two minutes of action. Barring some kind of personnel move, I don’t think Coach Quin Snyder is fully handing the reins over the Mitchell just yet, but I do think this is something we’ll continue to see situationally.
As Mitchell struggled to shoot, so too did the rest of his squad. For the night, the Jazz hit on just 39.4 percent of their shot attempts, although they did bang down 13 3-pointers to Minny’s eight. Rubio, Ingles and Jae Crowder were a combined 8-of-31 overall on the night (25.8 percent).
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One player who didn’t struggle was sharpshooter Kyle Korver, who scored 16 points and knocked down four 3-pointers. The Jazz were plus-13 in his 27 minutes of play, which was second only to Rudy Gobert‘s plus-15.
Speaking of, the Stifle Tower gave another All-Star performance, scoring 18 points, nabbing 16 boards and blocking four shots.
With the win, the Jazz improved to 28-22 on the year. They’re now in sixth place in the Western Conference and are within three games of the third place Oklahoma City Thunder. They’ll take on the T-Wolves in Minneapolis to complete the home and home series on Sunday.