Led by their star duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz picked up their second win in as many games over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
On Sunday night in frigid Minneapolis — it apparently gets warmer on the surface of Mars than it’s been in the Twin Cities recently — the Utah Jazz staved off the brutal cold of by generating some major heat on the hardwood.
Led by Donovan Mitchell‘s 29 points, the Jazz band dropped 125 points on the Minnesota Timberwolves to secure a 14-point win at Target Center. Seven players scored in double figures for Utah, who hit on 27-of-38 field goal attempts (71 percent) during a scorching second half. They also got 18 points from Ricky Rubio and 17 from Rudy Gobert.
And while lighting up the T-Wolves, who are now two games under .500 and in 11th place in the Western Conference, may not seem like a major accomplishment, it has the feel of a statement win if you ask me.
I know, it sounds crazy, but go with me on this.
Sure, the Wolves are a team the Jazz should beat on paper, particularly with Derrick Rose, Jeff Teague and Robert Covington all out of commission, but games aren’t played on paper. In their actual contests this season, Minnesota has been a real handful for the Jazz.
On Halloween night, it was the Wolves who scored 128 and stole a win from the Jazz. When the teams met on Friday, they nearly stole another with a furious fourth-quarter comeback that brought them to within a single point in the final minute after having trailed by 20-plus. If the Jazz hadn’t made some plays late, they’d have entered Sunday in an 0-2 series hole.
Offensively, the Wolves do some things that give the Jazz problems, too. Specifically, they stretch the floor in the frontcourt with Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Tolliver and Dario Saric, which makes life hard on Jazz bigs Gobert and Derrick Favors.
Finally, this wasn’t just a road game, but the second straight game these teams have played against one another; conventional wisdom states that you’re going to split that series a vast majority of the time and the Jazz already got their win at home.
Despite all that, the Jazz quite literally crushed it. They led for 90 percent of the contest, never trailed by more than a point, finished over 50 percent from the floor, hit 15 3-pointers, racked up 30 assists, were plus-seven in the turnover battle and more than doubled the Wolves’ paint production (50-24).
Winning a game in that way despite sub-optimal conditions is the mark of a true winner. And, after a rough start to the year, it’s become pretty clear that’s exactly what the Jazz are; a bona fide force in the Wild West.
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Even as they contend with injury woes of their own with Dante Exum, Raul Neto and Thabo Sefolosha all sitting on the sidelines.
After sweeping to home and home here, the Jazz are 29-22 on the year. They’re tied with the San Antonio Spurs for sixth place in the conference and remain just a couple of games out of home-court in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. They’ve won three straight games and 11 of their last 13 overall.