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SALT LAKE CITY — In the third quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns drove through the paint, put the ball up high and tried to put it in over Rudy Gobert.
With an emphatic block that led to a fast-break 3-pointer on the other end, Gobert told him to try again. On the next possession, he did. That one ended about the same, with Towns getting called for an offensive foul after extending his arm into Gobert.
Gobert won those battles in the paint — Towns took things outside. The Minnesota center knocked down three straight triples in the fourth quarter to help the Timberwolves come back and beat the Jazz, 112-102, Monday at Vivint Arena.
It was the first home loss for Utah (8-5) this season.
The Timberwolves outscored Utah 36-24 in the fourth quarter — which included a 23-4 run — to pull away at the end.
With 6:31 remaining, Towns knocked down a straight-away 3 to tie the game at 88-all. Less than a minute later, he splashed in another to give the Wolves a three-point lead. Then with 4:45 left, he pushed the Wolves’ lead to six with yet another triple.
Just like that, the Wolves took control of a game that featured 16 lead changes and 14 ties. Minnesota led by as many 13 points in the closing minutes.
“When Towns is spaced like that, it puts even more pressure on you,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “On your individual defenders and I didn't think we were very good, not just on the ball — off the ball, close-outs, just a lot of fundamental stuff that I think we can do and we didn't do tonight.”
Towns finished with 29 points and 13 rebounds and was 7 of 15 from behind the 3-point line to lead Minnesota.
A team’s offense often affects its defense. And that was the case for the Jazz on Monday.
Utah shot just 36.5% from the field and was 7 of 26 in the fourth quarter. The Jazz hit on 5 of 32 of their midrange shots. It’s hard to play effective defense for 48 minutes with that many missed shots.
“I think as a whole we just missed some open ones,” Donovan Mitchell said. “Down the stretch, I took some hard ones and that can't happen. A lot of those shots, if they’re going in, you take them but you got to understand you missed three or four, but I’m never gonna stop being aggressive. I'm gonna watch the film; guys are probably open I just didn't see them.”
Mitchell had 17 points on 7 of 24 shooting. But he wasn’t alone in struggling with his shot. Mike Conley was 6 of 15 for 15 points, Bojan Bogdanovic was 7 of 16 for 17 points, and Joe Ingles was 4 of 12 for 12. It wasn’t an efficient night for the Jazz offense.
“I felt like we were pressing a little bit,” Conley said. “I think they made a run and started hitting everything and KAT got going and every basket kind of built up for us. The ball kind of stopped moving a little bit."
The thing was, as bad as the closing minutes were, they weren’t even the worst stretch for the Jazz on Monday. The Wolves closed the first quarter on a 14-3 run as the Jazz’s bench unit really struggled. Utah opted to play Jeff Green at center in place of Tony Bradley, who’s had some rough outings himself, and it didn’t go well. The same unit did play better in the second half.
“That's a group that we haven't played together that much during the year,” Snyder said. “I thought we were more urgent, started switching more (in the second half). And that helped because we were able to protect the paint more and we took care of the ball. We didn't get a chance to play defense the last three minutes of the first quarter because we were turning it over. Saying we were better — it's hard to be a lot worse than we were during that stretch.”
Dante Exum made his first appearance of the season on that bench unit. Exum played 14 minutes and had two points on 1-of-4 shooting. That lone bucket was highlight-worthy, though. Exum intercepted a pass and drove in for an emphatic dunk.
“He did a good job,” Snyder said. “I thought he was focused defensively. It’s just good to see him out there and get through. I’m sure there’s a lot of going on in your mind when you’ve been out that long.”
It seemed like there was plenty going on in a lot of Jazz players’ minds after this one. The Utah locker room was a quiet place. No music. No happy banter. After a second straight loss, the Jazz have things to correct.
“You’d like to be able to learn when you're winning,” Snyder said. “And sometimes that's not the case and tonight was one of those nights.”
