Third home game of the season for the Wolves and third victory. A few days after dominating the reigning champions, Anthony Edwards and his team continued in an equally convincing manner against Jazz (123-95).
This large success took shape in the middle of the third quarter. Before that, the two teams were not separated by the score (66 all 7 minutes from the end of the third quarter). Carried by the 22 points of a clumsy Lauri Markkanen (7/20) and sometimes in difficulty in defense, or the 14 units of an even more clumsy Talen Horton-Tucker (6/20), Utah sought to get off to a good start. road trip” with a first away victory this season.
But Will Hardy’s men exploded in the face of their opponents’ sudden 3-point success. Served by Mike Conley, Karl-Anthony Towns penalized a first time behind the arc while the Utah team was in the zone. The Wolves leader did the same on the next possession, before once again finding his inside, still from the prize zone.
This sequence of skill, completed by passages on the free throw line from the same Towns, author of 15 points in this quarter, would start a fatal 15-2 for the Jazz. The locals were able to start the last act with a comfortable mattress (92-77), after a shot at the buzzer from Kyle Anderson, as inspired coming off the bench as Naz Reid. The latter was also aligned with Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert at the end of the first period.
Anthony Edwards then had the opportunity to continue his very good evening, by accessing the circle much too easily against the porous opposing interior defense. After cutting a pass line, he even offered a “windmill” in counter-attack to put the Jazz a little more head underwater. Anthony Edwards passed the 30-point mark for the second time this season.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Wolves keep the best defense. Apart from the 127 points conceded in Atlanta, Minnesota does not falter in defense. It was the fourth time in five games that the Wolves defense managed to hold its opponent below 100 points. That’s as many times as in… the entire last season (not counting the “play-in”)! So unsurprisingly, with 101 points conceded on 100 possessions, Minnesota (3-2) has the best defense in the league.
– The Jazz can react outside. Getting off to a bad start, the Jazz (2-5) have still not won away but will have the opportunity to recover with the continuation of their “road trip” which takes them to Chicago, Indiana and Memphis. So many a priori affordable opponents before welcoming the Blazers, then the Suns twice.
How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive rebound; T = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Pts = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
