The Minnesota Timberwolves picked up their second straight win to open the season, defeating the Utah Jazz 116-111 on Saturday night.
The Timberwolves got off to a great start in large part due to Rudy Gobert’s foul trouble. The Jazz big man committed three fouls in the first half which opened the door for Minnesota to take control of the game early.
Along with Gobert’s issues, the Timberwolves got a big performance from Anthony Edwards. The rookie was electric off the bench scoring 12 of his 18 points in the first half to help give Minnesota a 68-53 lead at halftime.
Ant can flat out hoop.
ⓘ 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 pic.twitter.com/nowwf4rIKL
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 27, 2020
The Timberwolves continued their performance into the third quarter thanks to D’Angelo Russell’s scoring ability. With a team-high 25 points, the Wolves held on to an 11-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
go off then, DLo 🥶🥶🥶 pic.twitter.com/bywngnehnP
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 27, 2020
The Wolves were able to keep the Jazz at an arm’s length throughout the fourth quarter but ran into a scary moment in the fourth quarter with Towns injury. As Towns fell on his left wrist going up for a rebound, he wound up leaving the game due to the injury and put the game in the hands of Russell.
As Russell hit a pair of big jumpers down the stretch, Towns returned to the game as the Jazz chipped the lead down to two points. With 4.7 seconds, Russell knocked down one of two free throws to give Utah a chance to tie.
On the ensuing inbounds play, Beasley’s defense forced a five-second violation and Russell knocked down a pair of free throws to put the game away and give the Timberwolves a 2-0 record.
The Timberwolves will try to earn their third straight win to open the season on Sunday night when they travel to face the Los Angeles Lakers.
