Gobert, Jazz outmuscle Timberwolves
Rudy Gobert scored a season-high 26 points and collected 16 rebounds, and Donovan Mitchell added 26 points to lead the Utah Jazz to a 116-108 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night at Salt Lake City.
Derrick Favors and Jae Crowder scored 15 apiece for the Jazz.
Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points and Jeff Teague added 25 for Minnesota. The Timberwolves lost their second consecutive game.
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 13 points but did not play in the second half after picking up two technical fouls and getting ejected before halftime.
The Jazz outscored Minnesota 19-0 in second-chance points and had a 46-27 edge on the glass.
Utah carved out its largest first-quarter lead at 15-9 on a put-back dunk from Favors. Minnesota inched back in front after Gobert was called for goaltending on a hook shot from Gibson to cap a 9-2 run for the Timberwolves.
Gobert responded to the call with back-to-back blocks. The Jazz retook a 22-18 lead on the strength of consecutive baskets from Gobert and Mitchell on the other end.
Minnesota rattled off six unanswered points and went ahead 24-22 when Jamal Crawford stole the ball and fed Tyus Jones for a layup.
Utah finally made a big run toward the end of the first half. Gobert and Joe Ingles combined to score off dunks on three straight possessions to fuel a 20-6 Jazz spurt. Mitchell finished things off with a step-back jumper to give Utah a 56-45 lead going into halftime.
Towns drew his second technical foul with 23.4 seconds left in the second quarter, complicating Minnesota's comeback efforts. The Timberwolves did close the gap in the third quarter behind strong play from Teague.
Teague turned a steal into a dunk and buried a jumper on back-to-back possessions to help fuel an 11-3 run that cut the Jazz's lead to 70-66.
Minnesota closed within a basket when Teague hit a jumper to make it 94-92. The Jazz kept the Timberwolves from erasing the deficit entirely. Crowder buried a 3-pointer and Mitchell followed with back-to-back baskets to fuel 11-2 run that put Utah ahead 105-94 with 5:20 remaining.
Teague was ejected after committing a flagrant-two foul on Ricky Rubio with 5:20 left, slamming the door on any further comeback attempts by the Timberwolves.
--Field Level Media
