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The Sports Network
(Sports Network) - A pair of Northwest Division rivals meet at Target Center
tonight when the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves both try to get back to
the .500 mark on the season and stay out of the cellar in the division.
Oklahoma City is running away with the Northwest but things are jumbled after
the Thunder with just two games separating second place Denver from both the
Jazz and Wolves.
After a solid start to the season Utah fell below sea level on Monday, falling
to Southwest frontrunners San Antonio, 106-102, in Salt Lake City.
Al Jefferson, who spent three seasons with the Wolves, led the Jazz in that
one with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Paul Millsap also had a double-
double, scoring 16 and pulling down 11 boards. The Jazz have lost four of
their last five overall and fell to 3-9 in their last 12.
"Tough loss. I thought our guys really played hard," said Jazz coach Tyrone
Corbin, whose team had more rebounds, more points in the paint and more fast
break points than the Spurs. "We had a chance to win the ball game."
Minnesota, meanwhile, is coming off a tough overtime loss in Denver when
Arron Afflalo drained the go-ahead shot with 33.7 seconds remaining in
overtime as the Nuggets outlasted the Timberwolves, 103-101, on Monday.
All-Star Kevin Love had his NBA-best 29th double-double with 22 points and 13
boards, and Michael Beasley added 17 off the bench for the Timberwolves, who
saw a three-game winning steak end.
Minnesota had its best chance to tie with 4.9 seconds remaining. Down 102-99,
Martell Webster stole an inbounds pass from Julyan Stone at midcourt. Rather
than pull up for a three-point attempt, however, Webster drove into the paint
for a slam dunk. The T-Wolves were down just one, but with 1.3 ticks to go, it
was too little, too late.
"I don't know what was going through [Webster's] head," Love said. "We talked
about it [during the timeout] if we were able to get a steal we would pull up
for three."
On the injury front for tonight's contest, the Wolves could be without
starting center Nikola Pekovic, who sprained his right ankle against Denver.
Fellow big man Darko Milicic is also questionable after sitting out against
the Nuggets with an illness. For the Jazz guard Raja Bell could miss a second
straight contest with a right adductor injury.
The Sports Network