MINNEAPOLIS — Entering Monday night, the Timberwolves had won two consecutive games just once this season.
That statistic was like an Acme anvil weighing down Wile E. Coyote, with the Road Runner representing NBA competency in this metaphor. You can't be a team that plays above .500 if you can't win more than two consecutive games. The only other time the Wolves won two straight came when they beat Detroit and Utah in the first two.
For some reason, the Wolves have the number of Utah, one of the best teams in the league, as Minnesota beat Utah 105-104 for their second straight win and second over Utah in three days. D'Angelo Russell's improbably open layup with 4.2 seconds remaining provided the win in a game the Wolves almost lost.
After leading most of the second half the Jazz went ahead 104-103 after Mike Conley hit a three with 5.9 seconds remaining. Conley had made one of two free throws just moments earlier with 12.3 seconds to go, and after he missed the second, Naz Reid grabbed a tipped rebound for the Wolves, but his foot was out of bounds. Conley came off a screen and nailed the go-ahead shot from the right wing. But After a timeout and a Chris Finch playcall, D'Angelo Russell ended up with a wide-open layup to put the Wolves ahead 105-104 with 4.2 seconds remaining. Ricky Rubio and Jaden McDaniels forced a steal off Conley fas the clock ran out and the Wolves secured their second straight win.
Russell provided the oasis of offense in a desert of a first half with 27 points then turned distributor in the second half with 12 assists. After Utah erased a 10-point Wolves lead 97-97 with 2:52 left, it was Russell who hit a three and found Anthony Edwards for two more and the Wolves held on in the final minutes. Karl-Anthony Towns had a quiet first half scoring but finished with 21 and 11 rebounds. Conley had 26 for Utah.
The Jazz wanted to make Towns give up the ball as much as possible by sending two, sometimes three bodies at him. As a result, the Wolves' first six shot attempts were three-pointers, with Towns taking none of them. They hit just one. Over the first eight minutes of the first quarter, the Wolves managed just eight points. The only saving grace was Utah, playing without Donovan Mitchell, wasn't exactly lighting it up either and Minnesota trailed just 16-8.
Nobody else in the starting lineup could score while Towns took just one shot. He finished the quarter without a point as the Wolves shot 6-for-20 and trailed 33-17.
Towns began the second quarter on the bench while Juancho Hernangomez kept the Wolves in it with 12 points off the bench on just three official shot attempts. That helped keep the Wolves afloat after falling behind by 18 in the early moments of the quarter.
The Wolves cut that to 40-30 on Towns only field goal of the half after he re-emerged around the eight-minute mark. But the Wolves crawled all the way back thanks to ice cold Utah shooting (5 of 26 in the second quarter) and Russell catching fire.
Russell had 18 points in the first half on six three-pointers. His electrifying makes made up for a half that featured lots of clanging off the rim from both teams. Towns finished the first half with five points and three fouls.
Towns got more involved in the scoring in the third, and he wasn't shy about it. He had two thunderous dunks, one on a perfect lob pass from Russell, who tossed up the pass from near midcourt. Then Towns ended the quarter with a vicious step-back jumper on perennial foil Rudy Gobert. Russell, meanwhile, went from torch-throwing three-point shooter to distributor as he scored just two points in the third but had eight assists as the Wolves led by 13 after three.
The Wolves kept the lead in double digits until Utah made a run with 6 minutes left. A 97-87 lead became 97-97 with 2:52 left before Russell hit another three and set up Edwards for a bucket. The Wolves would lose the lead again, only to get it back.
