Karl-Anthony Towns matched his career high of seven 3-pointers and contributed 29 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 112-102 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night in Salt Lake City.
Jeff Teague recorded 21 points and 11 assists for Minnesota, which halted a two-game slide. Robert Covington scored 15 points, Kelan Martin added 14 on 6-of-7 shooting and Josh Okogie had 11 for the Timberwolves.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 18 points but Donovan Mitchell struggled with 5-of-23 shooting while scoring 17 points for Utah, which dropped to 6-1 at home. Rudy Gobert registered 16 points and 14 rebounds, Mike Conley scored 15 points, Joe Ingles had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Jeff Green added 11.
The Timberwolves played without Andrew Wiggins (25.9-point average) for the third straight game. Wiggins was sidelined by illness on Monday after missing two games due to a personal matter.
Minnesota made 11 of 16 field-goal attempts in the final quarter and shot 46.1 percent from the field overall. The Timberwolves were 14 of 38 (36.8 percent) from 3-point range.
Utah was 7 of 26 (26.9 percent) from the field over the final 12 minutes and shot 36.5 percent overall, including 12 of 31 (38.7 percent) from behind the arc, in the first of back-to-back games between the teams. They play again Wednesday at Minneapolis.
The Timberwolves took control with a 23-4 run in the final quarter.
Green drained a 3-pointer and Mitchell added a three-point play as Utah took an 86-80 advantage with 9:23 left in the game.
Minnesota answered with an 11-2 run, capped by two Towns' 3-pointer, to take a 91-88 lead with 5:49 remaining.
Towns knocked down a straightaway 3-pointer to make it 96-90 with 4:45 left. Teague scored the next four points, and Martin connected on a corner 3-pointer to make it 103-90 with 3:23 remaining.
The Jazz moved within 108-102 on Gobert's put-back dunk with 33.7 seconds left. Teague made two free throws with 31.1 seconds left as Minnesota closed it out.
Towns scored 14 first-half points, and the Timberwolves led 59-56 at the break.
Towns buried a 3-pointer to give Minnesota a 64-56 lead early in the third quarter. However, back-to-back 3-pointers by Green and Mitchell later in the period gave Utah a five-point lead before the Jazz settled for a 78-76 edge entering the fourth quarter.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | Utah | |
Karl-Anthony Towns 29 | Scoring | Bojan Bogdanovic 18 |
Jeff Teague 11 | Assists | Mike Conley 6 |
Karl-Anthony Towns 13 | Rebounds | Rudy Gobert 14 |
Jeff Teague 6 | Free Throws Made | Rudy Gobert 6 |
Robert Covington 2 | Steals | Royce O'Neale 2 |
Jarrett Culver 3 | Blocks | Dante Exum 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Minnesota | 112 | 46.1 | 14-38 | 16-19 | 22 | 51 | 10 | 6 | 15 |
Utah | 102 | 36.5 | 12-31 | 20-26 | 20 | 53 | 5 | 5 | 14 |