Wolves lose to battered, road-weary Jazz, streak hits 11 losses in a row

If the Wolves were ever going to win again, then Saturday night’s home game against the Utah Jazz was the best opportunity to take care of business.

And while that may be a bit of an exaggeration…it’s not too far off the mark. The Jazz had zero healthy two-guards on the roster, their starting center missing, and were playing on the second night of a back-to-back after losing at home on Friday night. The Wolves have a relatively tough streak coming up, too, so it would have been extra nice to pull out a victory.

But it wasn’t in the cards. After leading 21-20 through one quarter, the Wolves faltered in the second frame. Neither team shot well early in the game, and the brickfest continued for all 48 minutes for the home team.

Late in the second quarter, the Wolves had a chance to keep the game within one possession in the final minutes, but Zach LaVine appeared to be hammered on a three-point attempt from the right wing. No foul was called, and three Wolves players stopped and complained as the Jazz hurdled down court for a dunk before the buzzer, making it a six-point deficit at halftime. Poor officiating, but an even poorer reaction by the Timberwolves compounded the error and dug a deeper hole.

In the third quarter, the Wolves reverted to their matador-style defense that they’ve displayed of late, allowing the Jazz to put up an easy 30 points. As predicted in the pregame, the point guard battle was key. Trey Burke rebounded from an ugly 0 for 11 three-point shooting performance on Friday night against the Hawks with 28 points on 10 of 16 shooting including 4 of 6 from beyond the arc, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, and only one turnover in 39 minutes.

LaVine played just 24 minutes, shooting 3 of 8 and scoring 8 points while only dishing out 2 assists and committing 3 turnovers. Mo Williams was iffy in the first half but came alive in the third quarter, keeping the Wolves within theoretical striking distance at least for awhile. On the game, Williams scored 20 points on on 8 of 16 shooting and 3 of 5 from long-range. He also had 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals with only one turnover in 30 minutes.

It was the first time in a month that LaVine and Williams shared the court, and Flip Saunders chose to have them on the floor together for a significant spell in the second quarter. It worked to an extent, and made sense against a Jazz lineup with both Burke and Dante Exum on the court. Utah started three forwards and a point guard, but played two point guards for much of the game, forcing the Wolves to adjust to their personnel.

The fourth quarter got away from Minnesota in short order, and despite a couple of futile pushes by the Wolves, Utah pulled away and the final score really wasn’t quite as close as the 12-point margin showing on the scoreboard.

Andrew Wiggins scored 20 points on 8 of 15 shooting and again showed flashes of brilliance, although his jump shot was off all night. He added 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Conversely, Shabazz Muhammad was shockingly quiet, scoring just 8 points on 3 of 9 shooting including 0 of 3 from three-point range. Saunders opted to go with a smaller lineup for much of the first half and a heavy dose of Robbie Hummel in the second half instead of playing Muhammad.

Playing Hummel made sense, and sure enough, the Wolves were only a -2 with him on the court (a good thing in a 12-point loss that had the Wolves down by 20 points at one point in the third quarter). Hummel is a good player, and Saunders erred by leaving him on the bench in the past couple of contests.

The Wolves have lost 11 games in a row and are now 5-27. The cavalry should be coming, as both Ricky Rubio and Kevin Martin are expected to return before the end of the month, but they can’t come soon enough. The Denver Nuggets will be at Target Center on Monday night in the Wolves’ latest chance to break the streak. And really, it’s the best chance in the near future. Again.

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