Utah Jazz solidly in sixth place with win over Timberwolves, rematch Sunday

The Utah Jazz took sole possession of sixth place by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, but they may not be there long with a tough rematch looming on Sunday.

They don’t ask how, they ask how many. That old saying certainly applied to an ugly Utah Jazz win on Friday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves in which Utah squandered a 21-point lead heading into the fourth quarter to only narrowly hold on to come out on top by a count of 106-102. It wasn’t an ideal victory, but at the end of the day, the Jazz got what matters – the W.

With the win, the Jazz became victors of eight of their last nine, improved to 28-22 and took sole possession of sixth place in the West with a half-game lead over the San Antonio Spurs. Hard to believe that a few weeks ago, the Jazz were well out of the playoff mix, below .500 and struggling. Now, as they continue to play great basketball and with a relatively easy closing schedule, fans ought to feel great about their odds.

Ironically, if the playoffs were to start today, the Jazz would be matched up in the first round against the currently third-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, who they faced last year. Of course, with the Jazz enjoying a lighter schedule the rest of the way, the Thunder enduring a hard one and the Houston Rockets steadily getting healthier with Chris Paul set to return shortly, I’d say it’s far too early to presume that will be the 3-6 matchup. There could still be plenty of shuffling left to be had.

But while it’s hard not to think playoffs with Utah’s recent uptick in performance, it’s important for both the team and us fans to not get too far ahead of ourselves. There’s still ample work to be done and rather than get ahead of themselves, I’m certain that Quin Snyder and Co. are focused on the here and now, beginning with Sunday’s upcoming bout, which just so happens to be a rematch against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It’s never easy to face or defeat the same team twice in the same week, let alone in consecutive games. That will be especially true considering that the T-Wolves most certainly figure to have confidence and momentum going into this next bout since they dramatically outplayed the Jazz in the final quarter last game. With that being the case, the Jazz can’t afford to get complacent as they did late on Friday.

Even if Minnesota continues to be plagued by injury, as they most likely will be considering they were without Derrick Rose, Jeff Teague, Robert Covington and Tyus Jones on Friday, Utah will likely have to play nearly perfect to steal a road win against a team that will be out for revenge.

Sunday’s bout could very well be a heated one as well, as emotions ran high in the recent contest between the two teams. Karl-Anthony Towns was issued a technical foul and Taj Gibson earned two consecutively while arguing with an official and subsequently hitting him with an obscene gesture which most certainly will earn a hefty fine. Joe Ingles picked up a tech as well for complaining vociferously to a referee.

While most of the animosity seemed directed at the officials, you could certainly feel the tension between the two teams as well and the frustration as the Jazz dominated early to fluster the Wolves and the Wolves fought back to throw off the Jazz. Ever since last season’s cheap shot incident where Jeff Teague took out Ricky Rubio, you’ve sensed bad blood between these squads.

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The battle between Rudy Gobert and KAT is always an exhilarating one. Gibson is as scrappy as they come (though it will be interesting to see what kind of discipline he potentially receives for his actions on Friday). And Andrew Wiggins tends to jaw with the other Jazz players as much as anyone. All in all, these two divisional foes clearly don’t like one another, and I imagine the quick turnaround in meetings will only increase that animosity.

As such, expect a hard-fought battle on Sunday. However, considering how much better the Wolves are at home than on the road, how challenging it can be to beat a team twice in the same week and how well the Wolves closed Friday’s contest against Utah despite playing on the second night of a back-to-back, I’m expecting a different outcome this time around.

The Wolves have looked better and shown more fight since parting ways with former head coach Tom Thibodeau and I expect that to continue. Prior to the loss to Utah, they’d won three straight games (albeit against light competition, but still) and have had several solid wins and narrow losses to good teams in the last few weeks.

In other words, they’re improving. And while the Jazz certainly are as well and have been performing at an even higher level, I’m still expecting a bounceback game for the Wolves on Sunday, which might prevent the Jazz from staying in sixth place for long.

My Prediction: Timberwolves 108, Jazz 101