Game thread: Jazz hoping T-Wolves sequel is better than the original

The Utah Jazz began the week by suffering their first home loss of the 2019-20 campaign against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Round 2 is on Wednesday.

Any Marvel fan with their head screwed on straight will tell you: Wolverine’s first stand-alone solo flick — X-Men Origins: Wolverine — was flat-out terrible. Just look what Fox did to poor Deadpool, and that may not even be the worst thing in the film! However, its sequel — The Wolverine — was objectively awesome; the rare great follow-up to a really bad movie.

On Wednesday night, the Utah Jazz (8-5) are hoping their sequel with the Minnesota Timberwolves (8-6) follows a similar path.

The Jazz band dropped their first home game of the season in Monday’s bout with Karl-Anthony Towns and his crew. The Timberwolves are far from the league’s worst squad, but it was a surprising result nonetheless for a team that’s trying to hold court with the league’s elite.

Ultimately, Utah was done in by missed shots, a lack of flow and ball movement offensively and its inability to cope with KAT in any way, shape or form defensively. The former No. 1 overall pick dropped 29 points in the game, hitting 7-of-15 3-point shots along the way.

He also added 13 boards, five dimes, two blocks and two steals for good measure.

Towns’ outside shot presents major problems for the Jazz D. Sure, Rudy Gobert does a better job of coming out to the perimeter than he’s given credit for, but it’s far from his strength as a player. And if he’s forced to chase Towns around the outside, it opens things up down low for the rest of the Minnesota offense.

The Timberwolves were plus-six from distance, but they also won the paint points battle.

If the Jazz hit shots, they probably overcome those margins. Donovan Mitchell, in particular, had a rough go, hitting just 21.7 percent of his shot attempts. The Jazz were outscored by 10 when he was on the floor, which equaled Gobert as the second-worst mark on the team to Joe Ingles‘ minus-11.

I wouldn’t bet on Towns hitting seven triples again, but he remains one of the rare players that can really help an opponent exploit the Jazz’s otherwise world-class front.

Nevertheless, the Jazz are better than this Wolves squad, particularly with some of their injury questions heading into the rematch. Even in a road bout, I’m expecting a better effort all around and a result that better reflects the reality of where each teams stands.

Game Data

Broadcast Info

Tip-off: 6:00 PM MT on November 20 from Target Center in Minneapolis, MN
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Radio: The Zone Sports Network (97.5 FM & 1280 AM Salt Lake City)

Projected Starting Lineups

Injuries

Ed Davis is out with his fractured his left fibula, and while he was still finding his feet when he was playing, there’s no doubt his absence is being felt. The Jazz are being outscored by more than nine points per 100 possessions when his replacement, Tony Bradley, is on the floor.

Dante Exum should be in action again after making his season debut on Monday.

For the T-Wolves, it’s a bit harder to pin down who will be playing and who won’t. Jake Layman is doubtful with a sprained toe. Meanwhile, Andrew Wiggins (illness) and Josh Okogie (knee) are both questionable.

We’ll likely have more information on the Wolves front following shootaround. Until then, it’s tough to say who will start and how the Wolves will be rolling on the court.

Prediction

The old adage in NBA circles is that it’s incredibly hard to beat a team twice in a row in a home-and-home run. And I would expect that to prove true here, regardless of who suits up for Minnesota.

The Jazz will likely shoot much better than 36.5 percent from the floor in this one, particularly if Mitchell shows his 5-for-23 night was an aberration. Even with Towns making life hard for Gobert and the Jazz D, I’m looking for reality to set in here. Let’s say the Jazz to get back to winning with a result in the area of 111-106.

Discussion

#UTAatMIN will be the hashtag on Twitter the Jazz-Wolves game. As ever, our live comment thread will be up and running below throughout the game. Go Jazz!