The Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, stretching their losing streak to six games.
The Minnesota Timberwolves‘ post-Oklahoma-City-collapse woes continued on Wednesday with what turned into a blowout home loss to the Utah Jazz.
The Wolves trailed early in the game but fought back with a flurry late in the second quarter to knot the game up at 59 at halftime. After attempting a season-low 22 3-pointers in Phoenix on Monday, the Wolves eclipsed that mark over the first two quarters on Wednesday.
But they didn’t make enough of them to make a significant impact, finishing the night 15-of-41 (36.6 percent) — a respectable number, but not enough when your opponent is 16-of-35 (45.7 percent) and also gets a number of dunks and layups.
The Jazz came out of the locker room after halftime with a sense of purpose, knocking down a pair of quick 3-pointers to start the third quarter and immediately grabbing back all momentum. The Wolves never made a serious effort to take back the lead and trailed by 20 or more for most of the fourth quarter before a too-little-too-late push.
The Wolves played hard for the most part, and outside of a few sloppy turnovers, they were largely a victim of some bad luck. Seemingly every 3-point attempt by the Jazz was made despite the Wolves doing a good job contesting shots, and Minnesota had an inordinate number of shots that rimmed in and out over the course of the game.
That said, there still wasn’t much in the way of positive takeaways, other than showing just a bit of fight after things were pretty much already decided. And with the Los Angeles Clippers coming into town on Friday night, things are likely to get worse before they get better.
Player Grades
Other Players
Keita Bates-Diop did not play due to flu-like symptoms, which meant that both Jordan Bell and Gorgui Dieng got decent run off the bench. Bell played the 4 alongside Towns when Covington headed to the bench, and Dieng backed up Towns at the 5.
Bell was quite good once again, scoring six points on 2-of-2 shooting and making both of his free throw attempts. He also had three rebounds and a block in 14 minutes. Dieng struggled a bit, with zero points on 0-for-2 shooting and just two rebounds and an assist.
Shabazz Napier played 13 minutes and went scoreless, missing both of his shot attempts. Treveon Graham only saw 10 minutes off the bench and was also scoreless on two shot attempts.
Without Bates-Diop and Jake Layman, the bench was relatively punchless outside of Teague.
What’s Next
The Wolves host the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night at Target Center. The game was moved to 8:30 p.m. to accommodate an ESPN broadcast, but the decision was made prior to the six-game losing skid that the Wolves are still mired in. Sorry, national TV audience.