The Utah Jazz will look to initiate a new winning streak as they return home to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of a back-to-back.
Thanks to a solid second half, the Utah Jazz were finally able to bounce back from disappointing losses to defeat the Phoenix Suns on the road on Wednesday. However, they’ll have little time to celebrate their victory as they’ll be right back in action on Thursday in Salt Lake City, this time against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves won’t be a playoff team as they were a year ago as they’ve had a pretty disappointing season that started out on the wrong foot amidst the Jimmy Butler drama that ultimately resulted in him being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Later, head coach Tom Thibodeau was fired and the T-Wolves have been riding in mediocrity ever since.
They’ve had some bright moments this season and some big wins, but for as many epic performances as they’ve had, they’ve had even more disappointing ones. Despite being an All-Star, Karl-Anthony Towns just doesn’t quite give this Wolves team enough firepower and remains a lackluster defender. Andrew Wiggins has been pretty subpar and, in all, the holes in this Minnesota team are numerous.
The Jazz lead the regular season series 2-1 against Minnesota with their lone loss coming in Derrick Rose‘s shocking 50-point game. Barring an unforeseen breakout performance such as that, the Jazz match up quite well against the Timberwolves and should be in a good position to earn yet another victory. Especially considering that Minnesota is an appalling 9-26 on the road, Utah’s home court advantage should give them another edge.
It is of course a little worrisome that the Jazz will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back, but it also appears quite likely that the T-Wolves will be somewhat fatigued as well. Their most recent game was a blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City, and due to a storm that hit the area, it appears that the Wolves’ travel plans were somewhat derailed.
As you can see in the tweet below from Jazz fan extraordinaire and renowned flight watcher Ken Clayton, it appears the Minnesota squad won’t be flying in until the morning of the game. Talk about less than favorable circumstances.
I am now. Looks like the Wolves aren't flying in until tomorrow now. Today's flight was cancelled, and this one was scheduled for morning. pic.twitter.com/1PiEbMCBwk
— Ken Clayton (@k_clayt) March 14, 2019
Between a favorable matchup, a potentially fatigued opponent and Minnesota’s dismal road record, there’s certainly a nice formula in place for the Jazz to win handily. They looked much better in their most recent contest against the Phoenix Suns, but that was obviously against lackluster opposition, so hopefully the Jazz won’t revert back to their recent woeful ways with a more talented Minnesota team in town.
Earlier in the week, I projected the Jazz would falter in a challenging back-to-back. But after reconsidering, I’m feeling a bit more optimistic. I think the Jazz will ride the high from the win in Phoenix and take care of business at home against the Timberwolves to get a winning streak re-ignited at two consecutive victories.
My Prediction: Jazz 102, Timberwolves 97
The contest between Utah and Minnesota will tip-off at 7:00 PM MT. Be sure to join in on the conversation in our live comment stream below!