Utah Jazz back in their groove zone after rout of T-Wolves

After a rough week of hoops, the Utah Jazz have won back-to-back games with their home rout of Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

There was a point during Thursday’s game between the Utah Jazz and the Minnesota Timberwolves when you could almost feel the back-to-back blues setting in.

After the Jazz had pushed their lead to double digits at multiple points during the first half, a Tyus Jones layup brought the Wovles to within one at 71-70 with eight minutes to go in the third quarter, and Karl-Anthony Towns looked to be on the verge going off. If Jim Ross was calling the game, he might have said “business is picking up!”

Instead, much as they did in the Valley of the Sun 24 hours earlier, the Jazz clamped down and took care of their business against a T-Wolves team that had their own issues.

Rudy Gobert got into Towns’ head (and got him fouled out in the process) and Donovan Mitchell took over in the fourth, scoring nine points over a five-minute span to lead his squad to a 120-100 win at Vivint Smart Home Arena.

Mitchell finished with a team-high 24 points in the game, none more gnarly than this wicked throw-down around an unsuspecting Taj Gibson —

He also continued to show his evolution as a playmaker, adding six assists on the night. Meanwhile, Gobert chipped in with 10 points, 13 boards and two blocks. Derrick Favors continued a stretch of strong play, too, putting up a 17-11-2 line.

Finally, the Jazz got a big boost from their bench brigade, who collectively pitched in with nine made 3-pointers and a combined 29 points from Jae Crowder and Kyle Korver.

Utah did a lot of things well on the night. Specifically, racking up 30 dimes, owning the glass by collecting more than 30 percent of available offensive rebounds (led by Gobert’s eight and Favors’ six) and holding Minnesota to 40 percent from the floor and 0-of-6 from three during the final carom.

That said, the Wolves were also fighting fatigue. After playing the Nuggets in Denver on Tuesday, they expected to fly into Salt Lake City the next day, but blizzard conditions ultimately forced the closure of all Denver International Airport runways for just the fourth time in history.

As a result, the Wolves essentially spent all of yesterday sitting either on a motionless plane or in an executive terminal. Also, this happened —

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They literally didn’t hit the 801 until just hours remained before tip-off. That’s really not a good recipe for being ready to play.

In any event, the Jazz have now cobbled together consecutive wins over teams that may have losing record, but were nonetheless dangerous adversaries on the hardwood. After having lost three games in four tries previously, they find themselves tied for the No. 6 spot in the West with just three games separating them and the third-place Houston Rockets.

Time will tell, and the Jazz will have their hands full with the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, but it would seem the team is back in its groove zone once again.