Losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves further digs a hole this team can’t come out of

The Utah Jazz keep falling deeper and deeper into the hole after yet another winnable game, this time against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Utah Jazz may be a genuinely bad team right now. They lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday 123-95, and it wasn’t just a bad defensive effort. We knew that was a possibility and it was a fear we had heading into the season, but they’re bad on offense as well. The Jazz gave up another 120+ games this season last night, making it the third time this season they’ve given up that many points.

In fact, the Jazz has only matched that total twice this year on their end, both times in games they won. In fact, it was the only two games they won. So knowing that the Jazz have to score 120 points or more a game to just win should give you an idea of just how bad this team has become.

And it isn’t just the total points, but the overall play of the team. The Jazz had no answer for Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns on Saturday night. Now, Edwards was going to get him, he’s been that good for a good long while, but Towns? The T-Wolves big was coming into the Jazz’s game having a bad year so far.

Then, out of nowhere, Towns looked at his old All-NBA self. He was scoring at will against this Jazz club, shooting 50% from the floor and dropping 25 on the Jazz. And the thing is, this isn’t on Walkere Kessler. He’s doing his job. Offensively, sure, he’s not being used right and when he gets his shots, he isn’t making them as often as he should.

But defensively? It’s not on him. Guys are leaving their spots on the floor to double down on less-than-impressive ball-handlers. The defense, much like the offense, is simply five guys with half doing their own thing and the others following the gameplan.

A lot of it involves John Collins leaving his spot in the low post and moving around a lot. Maybe that’s what Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy wants him to do, and if it is, that’s on Hardy for a bad game plan. But Kessler is meeting guys at the rim, and last night we saw him do just that. He had three blocks, and while blocks aren’t the end-all and be-all of stats, it’s a sign that he’s in the place he needs to be on defense.

The Jazz had a team that they could’ve easily beat had they just done as was expected, and instead we got a game that makes us even more worried about this team. This is quickly becoming a situation where time and practice won’t matter, it’s just bad players not doing their jobs.