Jan 7, 2017; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns (32) attempts to pass around Utah Jazz guard Rodney Hood (5), forward Trey Lyles (41) and center Rudy Gobert (27) during the fourth quarter at Target Center. The Jazz defeated the Timberwolves 94-92. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Despite a disappointing loss last night, the Utah Jazz should still be in good shape to get back on track as they host the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight.
For some reason it seems like every time the Utah Jazz are just beginning to elevate the hopes and dreams of their fans, they find a way to bring everything crashing back down on them. After playing so well in the first two games after the All-Star break, last night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder was just another such example of that.
Once again the Jazz proved incapable of beating a fellow Western Conference playoff foe as they fell to the Thunder by a narrow 109-106 margin. Not only was the loss itself a letdown after how well Utah had been playing previously, but within the game itself, the Jazz staved off a 13-point deficit to regain the lead in the final minutes of the game, only to falter down the stretch and ultimately fall to a tough Thunder team.
Nevertheless, the Jazz are still solidly in fourth place (for now) and regardless of whether the Clippers win or lose tonight, so long as the Jazz take care of business in their upcoming game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they will remain in that spot.
Yet, while the Wolves are currently in 12th place in the West with a record of 24-36, they boast an incredible amount of young talent and have given the Jazz their share of problems so far this season.
The first contest between the two teams was a seesaw affair that saw the Jazz manage to pull away late with a strong fourth quarter. The second match-up was Minnesota’s for the taking as they held a nine-point lead late in the game. However, instead of sealing the deal, the Timberwolves managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (that is how the saying goes, right?) by allowing Utah to end the game on an 11-0 run to sneak by with the win.
Therefore, while on paper and with a glance at the standings one might expect the Jazz to be heavy favorites and quite easily win tonight’s contest against the Wolves, there’s no guarantee that such will be the case.
Despite what the close score in yesterday’s game against the Thunder indicates, Utah looked out of sync and quite frankly pretty ugly for most of the night. Thus it’ll be important that the Jazz play much better tonight as well as come out with plenty of energy given that they’ll be playing in the second night of a back-to-back against a quick and athletic Wolves team.
Fortunately for the Jazz, both of the tightly contested games against Minnesota this year came on the road, so it will be nice for Utah to finally get to take them on within the friendly confines of Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Wolves are a dismal 9-18 on the road, so as long as Utah can get back to their winning ways from last week and take care of business in the following key areas, they should be in good shape to come away with a win.
Gordon Hayward</a> and Andrew Wiggins. The Jazz did an exceptional job on Wiggins the last time these two times faced off as he finished the night shooting just 6-of-19 from the field for 16 points.</p>
<p>That was well below his season average of 23.4 points on 46.5 percent shooting from the field. As Minnesota’s second-leading scorer behind Karl-Anthony Towns, there’s no doubting that he’s a key figure in their offense and that the Jazz will have to slow him down once again if they hope to win.</p>
<p>https://twitter.com/NBA/status/836674846352273412</p>
<p>And the guy whose main task to do just that will be Gordon Hayward. Oddly enough, while Hayward along with his teammates have done a great job of slowing Wiggins down in both contests this season, Gordon hasn’t exactly been able to fill it up offensively against the Timberwolves’ young star. Hayward shot just 6-of-14 in the first meeting, then dropped to an even worse 4-of-13 in the second contest.</p>
<p>With neither player quite living up to their expectations either time they’ve faced one another, it’s very likely that whichever one can break out tonight will have an excellent chance of leading his squad to victory. Despite averaging 29.5 points in the first two contests following the All-Star break, Hayward unfortunately struggled to find his shot last night against OKC finishing 7-of-17 from the field with 19 points.</p>
<p>Therefore, it will be vital that he get it going once again tonight in a match-up that he’s struggled with and find a way to regain his hot touch against Andrew Wiggins and the Wolves.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #00265D" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Key Stat - Rebounds </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_55344" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<a href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"https://thejnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/usat-images/2016/04/9796003-nba-utah-jazz-at-minnesota-timberwolves.jpeg">George Hill</a> has clearly stood out as Utah’s top performer. Part of this has to do with the fact that Hill is primarily matched up against Ricky Rubio. And while Rubio is a solid passer and playmaker, he’s not exactly known for his defensive prowess and is also far from being a shooting threat on offense meaning that Hill won’t have to worry too much about being overworked defensively.</p>
<p>Although Hill had finally looked as if he was breaking out of his slump given his recent play, he had a rough go last night against the Thunder converting on just 6-of-15 attempts from the field while going a putrid 0-of-4 from deep. Of course, this is somewhat to be expected considering how much guarding Russell Westbrook demands of him, but there’s still no questioning that it was a disappointing showing.</p>
<div class="embed ">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">George Hill declined to discuss potential future in Utah: "I don't want to talk about none of that. I'm just here to win games right now."</p>
<p>— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) <a href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status/836792931558150144">March 1, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div>
<p>However, that frustrating night may very well fuel a bounce-back game for Hill and with Rubio not even set to give him half the headache that Westbrook did, I expect Hill to be dialed in and firing on all cylinders, leading the Jazz as their top performer against the Timberwolves once again.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #00265D" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Prediction </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_56086" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<a href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"https://thejnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/usat-images/2016/04/9795919-nba-utah-jazz-at-minnesota-timberwolves.jpeg">sticking with my prediction from my week preview piece</a> and projecting a 104-94 Jazz win over the the Timberwolves.</p>
<div class="recent-posts ">
<h4>More from <b>The J-Notes</b></h4>
<ul>
<li>
<a href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/11/5-utah-jazz-players-make-espns-top-100-for-2023-2024/">
5 Utah Jazz players make ESPN’s Top 100 for 2023-2024
</a>
<li>
<a href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/11/john-collins-believes-the-utah-jazz-are-on-the-verge-of-something-great/">
John Collins believes the Utah Jazz are on the verge of something great
</a>
<li>
<a href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/11/former-utah-jazz-player-dante-exum-is-looking-like-the-player-they-hoped-he-would-be/">
Former Utah Jazz player, Dante Exum, is looking like the player they hoped he would be
</a>
<li>
<a href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/11/kelly-olynyk-could-be-a-realistic-sixth-man-of-the-year-for-the-utah-jazz/">
Kelly Olynyk could be a realistic Sixth Man of the Year for the Utah Jazz
</a>
<li>
<a href=https://thejnotes.com/2017/03/01/utah-jazz-vs-minnesota-timberwolves-keys-game/"https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/11/its-only-preseason-but-the-utah-jazz-could-use-a-stable-point-guard/">
It’s only preseason but the Utah Jazz could use a stable point guard
</a>
</ul>
</div>
<p>Following tonight’s game, the Jazz will host the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, travel to Sacramento for a Sunday matinee then turn around and host the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. From there, however, Utah will go on a daunting stretch that will see them play seven playoff teams in a row with six of those seven coming on the road.</p>
<p>It will be a stretch that will no doubt test the will and mettle of this Jazz team and could help them either solidify themselves as legitimate Western Conference contenders or find themselves quickly sliding down the standings behind teams they have struggled to beat this season.</p>
<p>With that being the case, it will be vital that the Jazz garner some confidence and momentum by taking care of business against those very beatable teams, beginning with tonight’s contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves.</p>
<p><em>All stats courtesy of NBA.com and ESPN.com</em></p><!—pageview_candidate—></p>">