The Timberwolves led big for much of the night on Monday in Utah before allowing the Jazz to make it relatively close down the stretch. At the end of the day, however, the Wolves salvaged a win on a 1-2 road trip.
The Timberwolves improved to 4-0 within the Northwest Division while getting rid of the bad taste of Saturday’s disappointing loss in Phoenix with a blowout win against the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
The Wolves jumped out to a big lead early in the first quarter and mostly maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game, except for a solid second quarter stretch from Utah and a final, desperate run in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. The Rudy Gobert-less, offensively-challenged Jazz only scored 14 first quarter points and played from behind the 8-ball all night long.
Minnesota was significantly more active on defense than Wolves fans are used to seeing. For as lackadaisical as this team was in losing to an inferior Suns squad, the visiting team was swarming the ball, getting deflections, and grabbing loose balls on Monday night in Salt Lake City. On offense, the Wolves assisted on 22 of 37 made field goals and played much better in transition than we’ve seen to this point in the season as well.
The third quarter saw the Wolves expand a 15-point halftime lead to 23 heading to the final frame behind strong play on both ends of the floor from Karl-Anthony Towns and impressive facilitating from this new, strange version of Jimmy Butler. The Wolves new superstar notched his first double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 assists.
The Timberwolves allowed the Jazz to go on a couple of big runs in the fourth quarter, including a 14-4 run that trimmed the lead down to just 11 points. It was a disappointing end to what had been an otherwise dominant performance from Tom Thibodeau’s crew.
This was one of the more complete, wire-to-wire games that we’ve seen the Timberwolves play to date (save for the semi-panicky fourth quarter minutes), and it couldn’t have come at a better time. A 1-2 road trip certainly isn’t ideal, but it’s a far cry from a three-game losing streak, especially with a tilt against the Spurs coming up at home on Wednesday.
Tweets of the Night
Love that play. High pick and roll Butler and Towns gets Teague open corner 3. More of this.
— brittrobson (@brittrobson) November 14, 2017
If you’ve been paying attention here at DWW, I’ve been calling for Butler-Towns pick-and-roll all season long. Butler handling, Wiggins slashing, Teague spotting up, Gibson crashing the boards.
More. Of. This.
Key Takeaways
- Great start to the game for the Wolves. The Jazz were awful early on, but the Wolves capitalized on the offensive end of the floor — something they failed to do last week at Golden State when the Warriors were ice cold from the floor and turning the ball over.
- Starting 4-0 in the division (and 2-0 against Utah) is a big deal.
- The Wolves defense looked good tonight…which is good, but also head-scratching. Why can’t they put forth something like two-thirds of this effort every night?
- Letting the Jazz cut a 23-point lead down to 11 in the fourth quarter wasn’t great, especially with it coming with all starters on the floor. Not keeping this massive leads and letting starters rest is going to catch up to this team come spring.
Player of the Game
Karl-Anthony Towns: 24 points (10-15 FG, 4-6 3P, 0-0 FT), 13 rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block, zero turnovers
Towns was great from start to finish in this one. After scoring a couple of early buckets down low, Towns did most of the rest of his damage from beyond the arc. For some reason, Utah refused to guard KAT at the top of the key, and he knocked down three of his first four 3-point attempts from straight-away.
Just because Towns was launching threes doesn’t mean that he wasn’t active inside, however. He did a solid job on the glass against a Jazz team missing Rudy Gobert, and avoided committing any turnovers as well.
Notable Box Score Lines
- Jimmy Butler: 21 points (6-12 FG, 0-2 3P, 9-10 FT), 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, one block, 2 turnovers
- Taj Gibson: 15 points (5-8 FG, 1-2 3P), 10 rebounds, one steal, one block, 2 turnovers
- Andrew Wiggins: 11 points (4-10 FG, 0-1 3P, 3-5 FT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers
- Jeff Teague: 22 points (7-15 FG, 4-7 3P, 4-4 FT), 3 assists, 3 rebounds, one steal, 5 turnovers
Butler and Towns led the way for the Wolves in this one. We even saw some effective aggressiveness from Butler late in the game, which we haven’t seen much of lately.
Gibson was great once again, scoring when needed and playing consistently solid defense while grabbing loose balls and rebounds. Wiggins had the inverse of his performance in Phoenix on Saturday, struggling to score the ball efficiently but actually filling out the box score with rebounds, assists, steals, and block. More of these performances, with a few 3-pointers sprinkled in, will go a long way for the Wolves this year.
Teague was very good shooting the ball from the perimeter but had five turnovers to just three assists and took some questionable runners and mid-range shots as well.
Next: The Timberwolves are consistently inconsistent
What’s Next?
The Timberwolves will head back to Minneapolis after a week on the road to prepare for a rematch with the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.